Editing Three men's morris (section)

== History ==
According to [[R. C. Bell]], the earliest known board for the game includes diagonal lines and was "cut into the roofing slabs of the temple at [[Kurna]] in Egypt"; he estimated a date for them of {{circa|1400}}&nbsp;[[Common era|BCE]].<ref name="Bell vol. 1"/> However, Friedrich Berger wrote that some of the diagrams at Kurna include [[Coptic cross]]es, making it "doubtful" that the diagrams date to 1400&nbsp;BCE. Berger concluded, "certainly they cannot be dated."<ref name="Berger">{{cite journal |last=Berger |first=Friedrich |date=2004 |title=From circle and square to the image of the world: a possible interpretation for some petroglyphs of merels boards |journal=Rock Art Research |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=11–25 |url=http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/home/aura/shared_files/Berger1.pdf |format=PDF |access-date=2007-01-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041121040028/http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/home/aura/shared_files/Berger1.pdf |archive-date=2004-11-21}}</ref> When played on this board, the game is called ''tapatan'' in the [[Philippines]] and ''luk tsut k'i'' ('six man chess') in [[China]].<ref name="Culin">{{cite journal |last=Culin |first=Stewart |date=October–December 1900 |title=Philippine Games |journal=American Anthropologist |series=New Series |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=643–656 |jstor=659313 |doi=10.1525/aa.1900.2.4.02a00040|doi-access=free }}</ref> It is thought that ''luk tsut k'i'' was played during the time of [[Confucius]], c.&nbsp;500&nbsp;BCE.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca/VirtualExhibits/rowgames/tapatan.html |title=Tapatan |access-date=2007-01-09 |date=2005-09-12 |work=Row Games |publisher=[[Elliott Avedon Museum and Archive of Games]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070208194807/http://www.gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca/VirtualExhibits/rowgames/tapatan.html |archive-date=2007-02-08 }}</ref> Centuries later, the game was mentioned in [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Ars Amatoria]]'', according to R. C. Bell.<ref name="Bell vol. 1" /> In book III (c.&nbsp;8&nbsp;CE), after discussing {{lang|la|[[Ludus latrunculorum|latrones]]}}, a popular board game, Ovid wrote:[http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/ovid/ovid.artis3.shtml]

{{quote|
Est genus, in totidem tenui ratione redactum
<br>&nbsp;     Scriptula, quot menses lubricus annus habet:
<br>Parva tabella capit ternos utrimque lapillos,
<br>&nbsp;     In qua vicisse est continuasse suos.
<br>Mille facesse iocos; turpe est nescire puellam
<br>&nbsp;     Ludere: ludendo saepe paratur amor.
}}
This, translated, says:
{{quote|
It is a genus, reduced to the same thinness
<br>&nbsp;      The scriptures, how many months is there in a slippery year:
<br>A small panel holds three stones on both sides,
<br>&nbsp;      In which victory he continued his people.
<br>He would have made a thousand jokes; it is a shame not to know the girl
<br>&nbsp;      To play: love is often prepared by playing.
}}
<blockquote>There is another game divided into as many parts as there are months in the year. A table has three pieces on either side; the winner must get all the pieces in a straight line. It is a bad thing for a girl not to know how to play, for love often comes into being during play.</blockquote> Boards were carved into the [[cloister]] seats at the [[England|English]] [[cathedral]]s at [[Canterbury]], [[Gloucester]], [[Norwich, England|Norwich]], [[Salisbury, England|Salisbury]] and [[Westminster Abbey]]; the game was quite popular in England in the 13th century.<ref name="Bell vol. 1" /> These boards used holes, not lines, to represent the nine spaces on the board&mdash;hence the name ''nine-holes''&mdash;and forming a diagonal row did not win the game.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca/VirtualExhibits/rowgames/nineholes.html |title=Nine Holes |access-date=2007-01-09 |date=2005-09-12 |work=Row Games |publisher=[[Elliott Avedon Museum and Archive of Games]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070208195130/http://www.gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca/VirtualExhibits/rowgames/nineholes.html |archive-date=2007-02-08}}</ref>

The name of the game may be related to [[Morris dance]]s (and hence to [[Moorish]]). However, according to Daniel King, "the word 'morris' has nothing to do with the old English dance of the same name. It comes from the Latin word {{lang|la|merellus}}, which means a counter or gaming piece."<ref name="King">{{cite book |last=King |first=Daniel |title=Games |url=https://archive.org/details/gamesfrombackgam0000king |url-access=registration |date=2003 |publisher=[[Kingfisher plc]] |isbn=0-7534-0816-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/gamesfrombackgam0000king/page/10 10–11] }}</ref>