cambuca

alternative cambuta · alternative cambutta

1. historicaluncountableA 12th-century English game somewhat similar to golf in that it was played with a wooden ball similar to a golf ball.

   The next incarnation of golf shows up in England while Edward III was in power. In cambuca or cambuta a curved stick similar to the one use^([sic]) in paganica, was used[…].

   2008, Adam Sherman, Golf's Book of First, page 7

   3 more examples

   GOLF. - there are many games played with the ball that require the assistance of a club or bat[…]In the reign of Edward III. the Latin name cambuca was applied to the pastime[…].

   1801, Joseph Strutt, The sports and pastimes of the people of England, page 97

   Though golf as it has been played, from time immemorial in Scotland, is more closely allied to the French game jeu de mail, and the Roman game cambuca, an opinion has been long held by writers on the subject that we owe golf to Holland[…].

   1896, John Kerr, The golf-book of East Lothian, page 23

   […] there were actually several golf-like games played from the mid-13ᵗʰ Century onwards. One of these games was pell mell, the forerunner of modern croquet, which involved hitting the ball back and forth over a short distance and having to drive the ball through a hoop at either end of the course. Among the everyday activities recorded in the stained glass of cathedrals, one window at Gloucester Cathedral preserves the image of a cambuca player about to strike his ball.

   2001, Paul B. Newman, Daily life in the Middle Ages, page 162

2. historicaluncountableA curved stick used to strike the ball in the game of pall mall.
3. obsoleteuncountableA pastoral staff.