Vestiaires au fil du temps

1967 - Nepalese Ice Hockey

Since ancient times, men have played games involving hitting an object with a curved stick. A painting by Pieter Bruegul (the elder) called “Hunters in the Snow” (1565) shows players using curved sticks to play with a small item on the ice.

The use of the word “hockey” to describe this type of game first emerged around 1785 (1527 for hockie), but its etymology is not clear. It is probably derived either from an old French word of Germanic origin, hoquet (a shepherd’s stick or crook), or from the Dutch word hokkie, a diminutive of hok (a kennel or cabin and in this case the goal boxes).

Many of these games were played in fields, but they were also played on ice, as seen in certain Dutch paintings from the 16^th century.