Damas = Checkers?

Damas = Checkers?
 

Hello,

Does anyone know why what English speakers call "checkers" (the board game) is called damas ("ladies") in Spanish?

checkered trousers are pantalones de cuadros, me magino que tiene que ver con la tabla a cuadros.

I suppose damas means they can be crowned queens, like the queens in chess.

According to the article at wikipedia, the game known as "damas" in Spanish and "checkers" in North America is called "draughts" in the UK.

In the US, the pieces that reach the far row are "crowned" or "kinged", and crowned pieces are known as "kings".

Right, a piece - on either side - that has progressed to the last row on the opposite side is crowned. What I have heard the player who owns such a piece exclaim at that time is, "King me!" which now makes me wonder about the queen theory. Not to be sexist about it, of course!
By the way, I have been wondering how popular the game is among people in Central and South America, especially when compared to chess and el dominó. Those are my two favorites.

In Spanish, pieces reaching the far row are coronadas and called reinas or damas. The normal pieces are called peones or simply piezas. I suppose the name comes from the fact that piezas are crowned on reaching the far row, like pawns in chess, and they become something that moves like a queen or bishop.

The game is called Dame in German, dames in French, and dama in Italian.

By the way, the chequerboard is called damero, and that includes towns and cities which blocks are squared or rectangular.

The Dutch etymological dictionary argues that the word does not derive from the queen in chess, but rather comes from the Old French word for dam. The game was called iew-de-dame [1380], long before the use of 'dame' in chess, which dates from the 16th century.

This sounds like a typically Dutch explanation. I'm curious what other etymological dictionaries might say..

You might also want to read this book:
Over de herkomst van het woord damspel: een probleem uit de geschiedenis van bordspel : en bordspelterminologie
250 pages devoted to the origin of the word :P

This is what Diccionario de la Real Academia Española has (though it's not the best on etimologies)

I still wonder, how well-known and widely-played is the game in Central and South America, especially when compared to others such as chess and dominoes?

Well, I played all three of them -and it was usual to do so- when I was a kid. But I think this is no longer usual. Kids play chess in school and there are many clubs and competitions, but I haven't seen a game of checkers for ages. The usual fixed tables in parks with a draughts/chess board made of majolica or whatever (with 4 colours or 2 and an internal line, as draughts here use a 10 by 10 board) have disappeared and now I only see some chess-only tables.