... La Peyrere, in a letter written from Copenhagen to M. La Mothe le Vayer, in 1644, says, "The differences between the Chess-men of the Icelanders and our own are these:  our Fools are with them Bishops, since they hold it right that the ecclesiastics should occupy the situation near the King; their Rooks are little Captains, which the Icelandic scholars here call Centurions.  They are represented with swords by their sides, and with puffed-out cheeks blowing a horn, which they hold in both their hands."  Without entering further at present into the peculiarities here noticed, it will be sufficient to observe, that the Icelandic term for this piece is Hrókr, which signifies a brave warrior or hero,§ and is evidently intended to represent the original Eastern term given to this piece...
    § Hrokr, vir fortis et grandis; en stor og stark mand.  Longurio, latrunculorum satelles, Brikke i Shakspil. Haldorson.  "Hrokr, gloriosus, thraso.  In ludo latrunculorum Shák vulgo dicto, miles hrokr appellatur, elatus quippe superbusque."—Index to the Orkneyinga Saga. (The Chess Player's Chronicle, v.1, 1841).