Alter

Hello,

in a mid-19th century chess book, the name of one player is replaced by "Alter." (with a . and between quotes). I understood that this meant something like "Anonymous" (and actually I managed to find the real name of this player in a later work).

Does someone know il "Alter." really means "Anonymous", or if it stands for something else ?

Thanks !

It's Latin for "(the) other", so that's probably why it was used, but actually I've never seen it used to make someone anonymous like that.

Welcome, Jerome78!

Perhaps it means the "alternate" or second player?

EDIT: Is the period present in each instance?

bibliolept said:

Welcome, Jerome78!

Perhaps it means the "alternate" or second player?

EDIT: Is the period present in each instance?

The period is actually not used everywhere. I think the explanation by entangledbank that it comes from Latin makes sense.