I Googled the two spellings of the word long ago and got the meaning(s) and spellings(s), from a source(s) I forgot. If an editor is fussy, I can try to dig up the definitions again. Champagne also is a drink, I think, so I liked it for that reason too. Much as Eric Greenwood enjoyed the deliberate misspelling of his large board 'Renniassance Chess' variant.
[edit1: From Google:
"Champaign. 1. extensive tract of level open land. synonyms : field." (Lan Geek)]
edit2: The best I can find for something in Old French at the moment is related to a rather expansive French region's name (the wiki spells it ChampaignE in Old French):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_of_Champagne
edit3: a wiki that calls Champagne Old French (under French: Etymology 2; P.S.: says champagne f (plural champagnes) (rare) an expanse of flat and open cultivated earth):
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/champagne
Hi Jean-Louis.
I Googled the two spellings of the word long ago and got the meaning(s) and spellings(s), from a source(s) I forgot. If an editor is fussy, I can try to dig up the definitions again. Champagne also is a drink, I think, so I liked it for that reason too. Much as Eric Greenwood enjoyed the deliberate misspelling of his large board 'Renniassance Chess' variant.
[edit1: From Google: "Champaign. 1. extensive tract of level open land. synonyms : field." (Lan Geek)]
edit2: The best I can find for something in Old French at the moment is related to a rather expansive French region's name (the wiki spells it ChampaignE in Old French): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_of_Champagne
edit3: a wiki that calls Champagne Old French (under French: Etymology 2; P.S.: says champagne f (plural champagnes) (rare) an expanse of flat and open cultivated earth): https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/champagne