HISTORY OF CRAPS
There have always been quite a few
differing ideas on the origins of craps.
One such opinion, according to Richard Epstein, is that craps is derived from an earlier game played during the Middle Ages, known as Hazard. The formal rules of Hazard were formulated by Montmort in the early 1700s. The origin of the name craps is shrouded in a veil of doubt, but it most likely came from the English word "crabs", or from the French Crapeaud (for toad). Here, however, quite a large number of gambling historians have divergent views. It is a hotly-contended topic among many scholars and self-professed experts, and one that often ends in tears and, sadly, fisticuffs!
According to other sources, there also exists evidence that a form of craps can be dated back to the time of the Holy Roman Empire. Soldiers in the Roman Legions used to shave down pig's knuckles into the shapes of cubes, and toss them onto their inverted shields as a form of entertainment while in camp. Hence we get the term "to roll the bones". It is generally believed that the game of Craps came to the United States from Europe.
There are two general variations of craps played today that can be directly traced back in craps history - they are called "Street Craps" and "Bank Craps". In recent times, the Internet version - Online craps - has also become very popular.
Another angle on Craps history, according to gaming guru and gambling legend Geoffrey W. Dibben, is that Craps dates back before the Middle Ages. The Arabs played a game using little numbered cubes, called azzahr (meaning "the die"). The game showed up across the Mediterranean in France, where it was renamed hasard, then vaulted the English Channel to England sometime before 1550 AD, where the English spelling, hazard, was adopted. The roll of lowest value in that game was called crabs. The French, trying to be amiable, adopted that term from the English, but spelling it in the French form as crabes. In the early 1700's, the game crossed the Atlantic to the French colony of Acadia, what is now eastern Canada.
In 1755, the French lost Acadia to the English, who promptly renamed it Nova Scotia and ordered out the French-speaking Acadians, who bitterly roamed the area and finally settled in Louisiana, where they were (and continue to be) called Cajuns. They developed a language called Louisiana French. They still played the good old dice game, but dropped the title of hasard and called the game simply crebs or creps, which was their spelling of the French crabes.
By 1843, the Cajun word came into American English as craps. People were apparently careful for a while not to omit the final 's' for fear of confusion with a slang term having a totally different meaning, and thus were reluctant to use the word in many instances.
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