Where the Word Dominó Comes From

The linguist Roberto Guzmán, in his Acento column on the word, says plainly that there is no consensus on where "dominó" comes from. That is the honest starting point. Everything below is a theory with someone behind it, not a fact everyone accepts.

The Real Academia Española's dictionary says the Spanish dominó comes from French domino, and that the French word perhaps comes from the Latin benedicamus Domino, "let us bless the Lord". The RAE describes it as a formula of plea said by the player.

Merriam-Webster agrees on the route: French, probably from Latin, from the ritual formula benedicamus Domino. Note the hedges. "Perhaps" and "probably" are the dictionaries' own words.

Guzmán adds another line he credits to Cuervo: the Latin verb dominare, from dominus, lord or master.

In French, domino was also the name of a garment. Merriam-Webster says it first meant a cape worn by a priest over his surplice, and that it "has been suggested" the playing pieces brought that black cape over a white surplice to mind. Merriam-Webster also notes that domino pieces were once made with ebony backs and ivory faces.

Wikipedia's English article prefers a different garment: the name is "probably" taken from a kind of costume worn at the Venetian Carnival. Guzmán, for his part, describes French domino as a hooded carnival garment, and ties that word back to benedicamus domino.

So the cape and the costume are two separate stories. Neither has a document saying "this is why the game got its name".

The sources give slightly different first dates. Wikipedia's article says the name domino does not appear before 1762, citing a French periodical, L'Avantcoureur. Guzmán dates the French word to 1771, and the English word for the game to 1801.

Those dates sit close to the history of the game itself: Merriam-Webster and Wikipedia both place the first records of Western dominoes in the 18th century.