antedating of tangram (1855-56)

[Benjamin Barrett]

The AHD says perhaps it's a partial translation (calque) from Tang
dynasty + tu (picture, diagram). I don't know Chinese, but these are
probably 唐図. If the ADS list ever allows non-ASCII, I'll try to
remember to fetch this e-mail from my outbox and resend for the archives. BB

Mark Mandel wrote:
> I recall reading in a book about mathematical puzzles that tangrams were
> less Chinese in origin than chop suey, i.e., not at all. I'll try to
> remember or find the book.
>
> m a m
>
> On 9/4/07, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
>
>> OED has 1864 for this Chinese geometrical puzzle.
>>

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