Chermany

Glossary of Games

Curated by Larry McCray and Jeffrey Kittel
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Game	Chermany
Game Family	Baseball Baseball
Location
Regions	US
Eras	1800s, Post-1900, Predecessor
Invented	No
Tags
Description	In an email of 12/10/2008, Tom Altherr tells of the game of chermany, defined in a 1985 dictionary as “a variety of baseball.” Early usage of the term dates to the 1840s-1860s. Two sources relate the game to baseball, and one, a 1912 book of Virginia folk language, defines it as “a boys’ game with a ball and bats.” We know of but eight references to chermany [churmany, chumny, chuminy] as of October 2009. Its rules of play are sketchy. A Confederate soldier described it as using five or six foot-high sticks as bases and using “crossing out” instead of tagging or plugging runners to retire them.
Sources	See also Frederic Gomes Cassidy and Joan Houston Hall, Dictionary of American Regional English (Harvard University Press, 1996), page 604.  The dictionary notes usage as “esp. VA” and gives four attested citations from 1889 to 1911, one of them a recollection from 1840, and another a 1911 dictionary associating the game with “the Southern United States.” The Richmond Whig, Aug. 21, 1866 speaks of southerners 20 years prior playing bandy and chermany. See also Altherr, "Southern Ball Games--Chermany, Round Cat, Etc." Base Ball (Spring 2011).
Source Image	[[Image:|left|thumb]]
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