It is beyond dispute that bridge is a variation of the Russian game of Vint. Not only are there marked similarities between every variation of Vint and bridge, but it is only in the nature of things that any skilful card game should begin in Russia, where, before the revolution turned things upside down, the aristocrats and the rich members of the bourgeoisie were among the keenest card players in the world, and, perhaps, the most skilful. And it is only in the order of events that the game should penetrate to the playgrounds of cosmopolitan society Egypt and the Riviera—and thence filter northwards, first to Paris and then to London. Nelson's Encyclopedia informs us that "a hybrid form of Bridge was played in Constantinople as far back as 1860." So we need not be surprised that the game was known to a small coterie of Greeks, living in Manchester, long before it was introduced to the London clubs; for all the members of the coterie of Greeks had business connections with the Near East.
So far, then, we are on safe ground, but when we come to the origin of the word "bridge" we must walk warily. At first sight it would seem that "bridge" is an easy corruption of "piritch," but the meaning of that strange sound is obscure, and there is no such word in the Russian language, or, indeed, in any of the Slavonic language:
To me, at all events, the most likely suggestion is the one put forward by Mr. J. B. Chambers, a Russian scholar and a card player of no mean skill, He points out that in all Slavonic languages vowels are not of vital importance, and that in the Russian language there is the word "beretch" meaning "to take care." He suggests that it is possible that Russian card players used the word "beretch" as a call for No Trumps, as a warning that the highest call was being made. "Mali Schlem" (little slam) and "Bolshoi Sehlem" (big slam) are terms used in every variation of Vint, and it will be seen that here the vowel has got changed im transmission. Mr. Chambers, however, admits that in every variation of Vint (and there are man; ez koseri" (without trumps) is the ghost call and he has never heard any other y of making the call.
Bridge, or straight. bri as we now call it to distinguish it from bridge, platend. and cent dead: more's the pity, as it was game. It retained its popularity for only teen- years; for, in the new century, life became less leisurely and in 1908 straight bridge succumbed to the more sporting attractions of auction bridge, devised some years before three members of the Indian Civil Servic Auction bridge, after many experiments and changes, just saw its majority; for although the contract feature was devised in France in 1918, and launched under the name of platend, it not until December, 1929, that the Portland Club framed the first code of laws to govern contract bridge, a mere exalted variation of the French game of platend.
Contract bridge, or merely contract, remains the fashionable game. For how long no one can say. It is puta youngster, not yet eleven years old, but it is a sturdy child; for in its short life it has seen many changes, some not for its good, and it has been threatened many times. The threats from Bunt in 1930 and from contract whist in 1933 were not serious, but in February, 1938, five-suit bridge came from Austria to challenge it as a most dangerous rival: prophets declared that five-Suit bridge would sweep the country within a year. But contract stood up nobly; the contest Was short and sharp, and it was five-suit bridge that perished.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.