The verses continue describing the game, in which all cheated, and its disastrous termination, “When we went for that Heathen Chinee,” is too well known to require repetition.
In early editions of “The American Hoyle,” as the book is called which is the acknowledged authority on card games in this country, the history of Euchre is given tentatively, but the account is rejected by later editions, or, at least, not republished. Although the compilers of these later editions evidently did not value, or perhaps credit, the history given by their predecessors, it may well be quoted, since no other has been advanced. The edition of 1864 says:
“The origin of this fascinating game is somewhat uncertain. From the fact that the word Bauer (a peasant) is pronounced similarly to the names of the leading cards of the game, some have supposed it to be a German invention, yet the game is unknown in Germany except in those parts where it was introduced by wandering Americans.” Nor do the German pips and cards lend themselves to the chief features of the game, particularly since they have no Joker, which is the most important card in Euchre.
In speaking of this game, Hoyle writes as follows: “As it has been traced to the counties of Bucks, Lancaster, and Lehigh, in the State of Pennsylvania, where it first made its appearance about forty years ago, it is not difficult to conjecture how it arose. Some rich farmer’s daughter of those American Teutonic regions had occasion to visit Philadelphia, and carried back to her home a confused memory of Ecarté. From her dim account one of her ingenious rustic beaux created the rudiments of the original game of Euchre, which it is claimed is a corruption of Ecarté, which by alterations and additions grew to what it is. Conjectural as this is, a number of corroborative facts seem to indicate that it is the fact.”
So far “according to Hoyle,” but any one who has studied games and their sequences may also suppose that among the descendants of the Prince of Hesse’s soldiers who were left after the war with England to spend the remainder of their lives in exile, the old games common in their country were remembered, and a game was evolved that suited the cards with the French pips, which were the only ones obtainable in this country, even although they differed from those of the Fatherland. Euchre resembles Gleek or Glück, a game well known in Germany, so the tradition of the farmer’s daughter, although ingenious, is probably without foundation.
Many of the terms used in Euchre and Nonsuch Euchre are probably derived from the dialect spoken by German immigrants and their children. The name Bower is the American-German word signifying “youngster,” which may well describe “the Knave child,” as it was at one time called in England. This word was naturally bestowed by Pennsylvania Germans on the card, for they still speak a patois peculiarly their own and clearly derived from their ancestors. It was probably they who gave this name to the Knave, and it is retained for the aforementioned game, where certain Knaves have a particular value.
The word Euchre seems likely to have been derived from the shout of exultation usual when playing certain games of cards in Germany, although the evil tendencies of the imp who presides over the spelling of English words has altered the original word Juch to the peculiarly unmeaning one of Euchre.
Juch pronounced Yuch, is a cry of exhultation. There is not only a verb to cry out, Juch, but a somewhat unusually constructed noun made from that verb, which is Jucheier; whereas Jucher would be the normally constructed noun made from that verb. Therefore, it seems quite natural to assume that Jucher, describing a player shouting with exultation when winning a point, must have been used unconsciously, whether this word is to be found in the dictionary or not, for it is certainly this exclamation that is used as the player throws down the card winning the third trick in Euchre when the opponent has ordered or taken up the trump card or made the suit. The words Keno or Domino are commonly used to declare winning one of those two games, particularly in foreign countries, and since Euchre is evidently derived from alien games, and was introduced by persons speaking a patois of English and German, the name is probably taken from the verb mentioned. Ch is pronounced in German like K, so Jucher has the sound of Euchre. In Grimm’s “Deutsches Woerterbuch,” we find the following definition:
JUCH (interjection).—A loud burst of joy. As example, “The good man dreamed as if he were still at the card club, shouting, ‘Juch, Juch, Grun (the leaf suit in the German cards) is chosen.’”
JUCHEN (verb).—To shout “Juch.”