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).
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).