However, where and when this game-play originated in China, is still unclear in my view. In this article I have stipulated the unique element of the game-play to be the formation of melds of two, three or four identical units from a group or a suit, in addition to a sequence of consecutive units from a suit, using the draw and discard method. Where other romanisations are used the pinyin form is in parentheses. Throughout this article I have chosen to use Pinyin romanisation of Chinese. Once a relationship is established and it is found that the archetype of the feature lacks or has additional elements compared to those that make up the circa 1920 feature, that archetype is then stipulated as a ‘precursor’ to Mahjong(g). These relationships can only be established from analysis of, and between, the documentary evidence of the proposed archetype and the circa 1920 Mahjong(g) feature. However, using the term ‘Mahjong(g)’ when investigating any of the proposed archetypes of (1), (2) or (3) that existed before circa 1920, may give the misleading impression that they are directly related to, or are identical to, their namesakes in the circa 1920 game.
The term ‘Mahjong(g)’ was coined by Joseph P Babcock circa 1920 and was, at that point, directly associated or fixed to what I shall stipulate as the three basic features that formed the circa 1920 game (1) a double sinogram 麻雀 ma que in modern Pinyin 1 – literally ‘hemp bird’, but in the bonded form meaning ‘sparrow’ (2) a game-play and (3) a specific tile set.
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