2. Philosophy - Stefano Franchi

“ TO DIE GAME”
tion that is the English classification that may be linguistically contingent. Or, to be more
precise, there is some evidence suggesting that the semantic area of Spiel, in virtue of the
opposition playful/serious, provides an extended leeway whereby “play” and “game”can
move, and have in fact moved, quite considerably.
The linguistic history of the English words “play” and “game” provides some interest-
ing confirmations of the existence of an intrinsic leeway within the concept of Spiel. “Play”
for example, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, derives most likely from an Old
Saxon word, plagan, meaning “‘to have the care of, take charge of, attend to, cultivate’, ‘to
be in the habit of, to be wont or accustomed to’. The origin of the term, in other words,
comes from the opposite pole of the current uses of “play,” since it used to denote an activ-
ity tied to the sphere of work and physical labor. In Old English “play” can be applied to
the activity of plowing a field, as in the following example: “Eche man to pleye with a plow
pykoys or spade.” 4 The evolution of the word, or at least one of the lines of evolution, in-
creasingly privileges the process itself and tends to disregard the purpose of the action, so
that the term comes to mean “being idle,” in the sense of being actively engaged in some-
thing not useful, e.g. being busy not working. The current meaning of “playing” as “amus-
ing oneself”, “recreating”, seems to derive from this privilege of an activity that bends back
upon itself and has no longer an outwardly directed purpose. When considered along its
whole history, “play” seems to have covered quite a long path. From an original use in
which it can be applied to an activity as productive and as socially engaged as plowing a
field it comes to signify what may perhaps be considered the most unproductive and most
solitary activity of all. 5
The opposite movement is exemplified by the linguistic evolution of “game.” Origi-
nally derived, most likely, by ga, “together” + man, “human being”(cf. Were-man/Wo-
man) it takes the meaning of joy and merriment found in communion (Cf. German Gemein,
4. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. iii. 307
5. This meaning of “play” as the intrinsically wasteful activity best exemplified by the English phrase
“playing with oneself” is actually crucial to the contemporary philosopher who has is perhaps best
known for his use of jeu: Jacques Derrida. See, for example, La Dissémination. I will come back, partially
at least, to Derrida’s use of jeu in the last section of chapter VI below.
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