In German it was called Lorzen, Lurz, Lurtsch or Lurtschspiel[4][5] The game was listed by Rabelais in his work, Gargantua and Pantagruel, in 1534.
[6] In 1586, the English Courtier and Country Gentleman says that "In fowle weather, we send for some honest neighbours, if happely wee bee without wives, alone at home (as seldome we are) and with them we play at Dice and Cards, sorting our selves according to the number of Players, and their skill, some in Ticktacke, some Lurche, some to Irish game, or Dublets.
"[7] Shakespeare also alludes to Lourche, both in Coriolanus and the Merry Wives of Windsor.
[8] Addison (1892) notes that the game is also recorded as Ourche which "suggests that lourche stands for l'ourche, the initial 'l' being merely the definite article," and that ourche may have meant the 'pool' i.e. the pot into which the stakes were placed and thus may have an origin in the Latin urceus, a "pitcher" or "vase".
Murray simply records that 16th century works "often refer to a game of tables called lurch ... though none describes it.