gambit

English borrowed gambit from Italian gambetto, meaning 'act of tripping' or 'gambit,' itself formed from gamba ('leg') plus the diminutive suffix -etto. It's first attested in English in 1656.

The Italian word originally described the literal act of tripping someone with the leg; English picked it up specifically in the sense of a strategic opening move or sacrifice, as in chess.

Gamba, the Italian word for 'leg,' is the root here, and it survives in English musical terminology like 'viola da gamba,' a leg-held instrument — though that connection isn't confirmed in these facts, gamba itself is the shared ancestor.