Italian alphabet correspondences

Ross G Caldwell

I tend to think that, if the trumps have any correspondence with an alphabet, it would be with the vernacular alphabet in use in Italy in the 14th and 15th centuries; in Tuscany, this had 21 letters, while in northern Italy they used 22.

I think it is unlikely there is a complete one-to-one correspondence. The alphabet was kind of like an "ideal" complete series. But it seems like fun to try to find correspondences anyway.

Here is a possibility I am playing with.

I use the southern order, and count from high to low; if I can think of a correspondence, I write it:

A - Angel (letter A, alto, high)
B - World (basso, low)
C - Sun (cielo, heaven)
D - Moon (looks like a half moon)
E - Star (rays?, estella?)
F - Tower (Fuoco, fire, old name for tower)
G - Devil
H - Death
I - Hanged man (Impiccato)
L - Old Man (L looks like a crutch?)
M - Wheel (mezzo, the middle, wheel is middle trump)
N - Force
O - Justice (O is perfectly balanced)
P - Temperance (Prudens?)
Q - Chariot
R - Love
STVX - Four Papi (no particular order, but T and X are forms of the cross)
Z - Magician (Zugatore (modern Giocatore), the game-player (15th century spelling).

Y - Matto (Y was widely known as the "letter of human life", making the choice between the way of Folly or the way of Wisdom).

X does not seem to have been used in Florence and Tuscany in the 15th century, while along with Y it was used in the north (i.e. Bologna, Ferrara, Venice, Milan).
 

DoctorArcanus

The Moon is a Liar

Ross G Caldwell said:
D - Moon (looks like a half moon)

In Italy we say "la Luna e' bugiarda" The Moon is a liar: it spells "C", as in crescere (Italian for "to grow") when it wanes, and "D" as in decrescere ("decrease") when it waxes. So letter D really is commonly associated to the Moon.

Marco
 

Ross G Caldwell

DoctorArcanus said:
In Italy we say "la Luna e' bugiarda" The Moon is a liar: it spells "C", as in crescere (Italian for "to grow") when it wanes, and "D" as in decrescere ("decrease") when it waxes. So letter D really is commonly associated to the Moon.

That's lovely Marco, thanks for the anecdote. In what kind of context would you use that saying? (e.g. I know some Americans who say "The Devil is a liar!" to mean "I don't believe it!" or "That's incredible!" or "You've got to be joking!")

It is really nice that those letters are associated with the Moon.
 

jmd

Very nice addition, Ross.

Playing around with this further, especially if some kind of likely link is found, also inevitably adds to the possibility that a similar suggestion would have been made for either or both the other two alphabets considered of merit at the time, and hence, given the fundamentally elevated status of Hebrew as the language of God, that alphabet.

I understand also some of the likely reasons for proposing the Angel-high card in the sequence (and the cardinal virtues together lower down), and yet wonder also if, given the mention of Ferrara, a similar attempt has been made for the C (ie, Marseille) pattern? This, especially IF the B (Ferrara) pattern is in fact a modification of the Marseille order, for then it may lend further credence that there may be internal alphabetic relation of this pattern too.
 

DoctorArcanus

Ross G Caldwell said:
That's lovely Marco, thanks for the anecdote. In what kind of context would you use that saying? (e.g. I know some Americans who say "The Devil is a liar!" to mean "I don't believe it!" or "That's incredible!" or "You've got to be joking!")

It is really nice that those letters are associated with the Moon.

"The Moon is a liar" is a mnemonic trick used to recognize the phases of the moon: you "read" the letter the moon is spelling (C or D) and interpret it as its opposite.

* When the Moon is C-shaped it is Decrescente (decreasing / waning)
* When the Moon is D-shaped it is Crescente (growing / waxing)

I mentally use it every time I look at the moon :)

Marco
 

Ross G Caldwell

DoctorArcanus said:
"The Moon is a liar" is a mnemonic trick used to recognize the phases of the moon: you "read" the letter the moon is spelling (C or D) and interpret it as its opposite.

* When the Moon is C-shaped it is Decrescente (decreasing / waning)
* When the Moon is D-shaped it is Crescente (growing / waxing)

I mentally use it every time I look at the moon :)

Marco

Thanks - I see now. Moon says "C", but means "D" (Decrescente); then she says "D", but means "C" (Crescente).

In so many early decks, the crescent form (either or both C and D) is used for the moon; sometimes it looks more like a solar eclipse.

I wonder if there is such a proverb in French?
 

Ross G Caldwell

Ross G Caldwell said:
I wonder if there is such a proverb in French?

Thank google! The answer appears to be yes.

I googled "La lune est menteuse", and got several answers.
" la lune EST MENTEUSE.
Si elle fait un C elle décroit.
Si elle fait un D elle croit"

It wouldn't work so well in English, since we use decrease and INcrease.
 

Fulgour

Bonjour Ross! You have created a delightful presentation,
and I am thoroughly grateful for your generous insights.

Click on to view: IL MATTO

I would be handsomely relieved if the M patch sewn on
this Il Matto was explained to my weary imagination...
most replies fall back on something far too mundane to
satisfy me~such a significant marking must be esoteric.

The Ace of Cups by Pamela Colman Smith has this letter
upside down (but not to imply a W) which fuels interest.
 

Ross G Caldwell

Fulgour said:
Bonjour Ross! You have created a delightful presentation,
and I am thoroughly grateful for your generous insights.

Thanks. Glad you liked it.

Click on to view: IL MATTO

I would be handsomely relieved if the M patch sewn on
this Il Matto was explained to my weary imagination...
most replies fall back on something far too mundane to
satisfy me~such a significant marking must be esoteric.

I would guess it signifies "Matto". I seem to remember some decks have a P for "Pazzo". Both words mean "mad, nuts, insane". The patch must represent something like an April Fool's joke... or Pin the Tail on the Donkey... or "Kick Me".

The Ace of Cups by Pamela Colman Smith has this letter
upside down (but not to imply a W) which fuels interest.

There is another thread on this in the RWS forum, I think. There is also a tiny dove on the stem of the Cup. Both the little dove and the inverted M reflect the higher dove and upright M. I think it is the inner grace responding to the divine descent of grace in the form of a sacrament. The Macrocosm being absorbed in the Microscosm... or the Microcosm *realizing* the Macrocosm.

Crowley has a similar thing in the Hierophant card, where the Pentagram surrounding the Hierophant has an inverted Pentagram in the inner Pentagon of the larger, outer Pentagram; and then another, upright one over his heart.

In the same way, images are inverted when they are received by the retinas of our eyes, then put back upright by the brain.

So I guess it is all an illustration of how truth is received by reflection (the surface of the liquid in the Cup, or the Retina, or the Heart), and then perceived.
 

Fulgour

M on Il Matto

Ross G Caldwell said:
I would guess it signifies "Matto". I seem to remember some decks have a P for "Pazzo". Both words mean "mad, nuts, insane". The patch must represent something like an April Fool's joke... or Pin the Tail on the Donkey... or "Kick Me".
Thanks :) Ross! Let's say though, the M-patch is something
much more significant~ this is the world of Tarot where what
you see is not always what you get. Anything possibly there?