Editing Hopscotch (section)

== Origin ==
[[File:Magpie hopscotch.jpg|thumb|A hopscotch game with a traditional [[One for Sorrow (nursery rhyme)|magpie rhyme]] in [[Morecambe]], England]]

According to Ulrich Schädler, the origin of hopscotch is still enigmatic, although he firmly states it is an early modern game.<ref name="bgs-2021-0004-Schädler">{{cite journal |last1=Schädler |first1=Ulrich |title=Some Misconceptions About Ancient Roman Games |journal=Board Game Studies Journal |date=1 April 2021 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=79–97, here pp. 84–86 |doi=10.2478/bgs-2021-0004 |s2cid=233430469 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Nonetheless, there are claims for a greater age of this game.
B. B. Lal states (without evidence) that hopscotch was played {{circa}}1200 to 600–500 BCE during the [[Painted Grey Ware culture|Painted Grey ware]] era of India.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lal|first=B.B|title=The Painted Grey Ware culture of the Iron age|url=https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/sites/default/files/knowledge-bank-article/vol_I%20silk%20road_the%20painted%20grey%20ware%20culture%20of%20the%20iron%20age.pdf|journal=Silk Road|volume=I|pages=412–431, here p. 427}}</ref> Among the [[List of games that Buddha would not play|games prohibited by Buddha]] there is an entry that is reminiscent of hopscotch, but not specific enough to enable us to actually identify the game.<ref name="bgs-2021-0004-Schädler"/>
Despite speculation that an ancient form of hopscotch was played by Roman children and soldiers,<ref name="pgpedia-hopscotch">{{cite web |title=Hopscotch |url=https://www.pgpedia.com/h/hopscotch |website=Play Encyclopedia |access-date=15 March 2022}}</ref> there is no evidence for this.<ref name="bgs-2021-0004-Schädler"/><ref name="JBAA-1870-hop-scotch">{{cite book |title=Journal of the British Archaeological Association |date=1870 |publisher=British Archaeological Association. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UDAGAAAAQAAJ&dq=hop-scotch&pg=PA242 |language=en}}</ref>

The first recorded references to the game in the English-speaking world date to the late seventeenth century, usually under the name "scotch-hop" or "scotch-hopper(s)".<ref>{{cite book|author=Thomas Shadwell|author-link=Thomas Shadwell|title=''The Sullen Lovers''|year=1668}} :'Play at Catt, Stoolball, Scotch-hopp and Trap-ball.' Cited in Oxford English Dictionary, Third edition, June 2011; online version March 2012</ref> A manuscript ''Book of Games'' compiled between 1635 and 1672 by [[Francis Willughby]] refers to 'Scotch Hopper‥. They play with a piece of tile or a little flat piece of lead, upon a boarded floor, or any area divided into oblong figures like boards'.<ref>The manuscript was published in 2003: see Cram, D., Forgeng, J. L., and [[Dorothy Johnston|Johnston, D.]], ''The Book of Games of Francis Willughby (1635-1672). A Seventeenth-century Treatise on Sports, Games, and Pastimes''. ([[Aldershot]], 2003).</ref> In [[Poor Robin|Poor Robin's Almanack]] for 1677, the game is referred to as "Scotch-hoppers". The entry states, "The time when schoolboys should play at Scotch-hoppers." The 1707 edition of Poor Robin's Almanack includes the following phrase... "Lawyers and Physicians have little to do this month, so they may (if they will) play at Scotch-hoppers."<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book | title = The journal of the British Archaeological Association, Volume 26 |year = 1870| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=UDAGAAAAQAAJ&q=hopscotch%20roman&pg=PA242 }}</ref> In 1828, [[Noah Webster|Webster]]'s ''[[American Dictionary of the English Language]]'' also referred to the game as 'Scotch-hopper' ... 'a play in which boys hop over scotches and lines in the ground.'<ref>''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', Third edition, June 2011; online version March 2012.</ref>

=== Etymology ===
According to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', the [[etymology]] of ''hopscotch'' is a formation from the words "hop" and "{{Not a typo|scotch}}", the latter in the sense of "an incised line or scratch".<ref>OED Online. March 2012. Oxford University Press. 24 April 2012: "scotch: An incision, a cut, esp. a long gash made in the flesh; a score; a notch. Obs. (arch. and Eng. regional (E. Anglian) in later use)."</ref> The journal of the [[British Archaeological Association]], volume&nbsp;26 (dated March&nbsp;9, 1870) states: "The sport of Hop-Scotch or Scotch-Hoppers is called in [[Yorkshire]] 'Hop-Score', and in [[Suffolk]] 'Scotch Hobbies or Hobby', from the boy who gets on the player's back whilst hopping or 'hicking', as it is there termed; and in Scotland it is known as 'Peevers, Peeverels, and Pabats'".