Sporting Vernacular 16: Umpire
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Edward I's wardrobe bill in March 1300 included pounds 6 for young Prince Edward's school "Creag" expenses, and the root is the Anglo Saxon "Cryce" or "Stick', and there is evidence the game was played on the Sussex Weald before the Normans' innings began. To this day, the cricket pitch is 66 feet long, the width of a farmer's holding under the medieval agriculture system.
In 1540, the Catholic Stony and Hurst School fled to Rouen to escape persecution, taking cricket with them. It was there the word "umpire" entered the game, from "non pair" - not equal, and therefore neutral. From there it became "Noumpere" later dropping the N to become the umpire we have today.
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