Discovering Gébelin!!

tarobones

pede suspenso

Quote: "Pede suspenso" - the suspended foot - meaning being careful - prudent - about where to step next - instead of "suspended by the feet" - almost convincing.
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I think that "pede suspenso" is the ablative absolute, in which case "by the foot suspended" would be the accurate translation...a suspended foot would be "pes" not "pede". Not 100% positive, but fairly certain. :) BB, Michael
 

firemaiden

No, that's not what Gébellin meant.
 

Fulgour

Herstory

tarobones said:
I think that "pede suspenso" is the ablative absolute,
in which case "by the foot suspended" would be the
accurate translation...
Hi Michael ~ this works for me, but really I'd rather read
what Gébelin's grandmother had to say about Tarot. :)

*

Picture of Gébelin: click on

Granny (possibly!): click on
 

Sophie

I've only just discovered this thread, silly me!

Firemaiden, I remember discovering the French site reproducing Gébelin's text, and being as seduced as you were by his lively language. It's charming and gives a very interesting aperçu into salon conversation of the 18th century, as well as showing us the birth of the modern occult tarot.

I've laughed at his theories in the past, but not long ago, I was listening to a Grande Vieille Dame called Christiane Desroches Noblecourt, who is a Louvres Egyptologist, talking about her latest book - Le Fabuleux Héritage de l'Egypte (The Fabulous Inheritance of Egypt). She does not mention tarot, of course, but shows how many cultural ideas, objects and images Egypt left us. Of interest to the tarot student, she traces back a number of Medieval and Renaissance images to ancient Egypt, as well as astrology, astronomy, the calendar and any number of philosophical and spiritual ideas (and ancient science, not separate from philosophy at the time) that many like to see in the tarot.

Much effort has been expended in debunking Gébelin. But - albeit for the wrong reasons - he might well be right in part.

I can't tell you an awful lot more, as I have Professor Desroches Noblecourt's book on order. If I find anything relevant in the reading, I shall post it.
 

firemaiden

about "pede suspenso"

Okay, about “pede suspenso” although Gébellin may have gotten the Hanged Man the wrong way round, he was an erudite man, would not have been mistaken about his Latin.

The poplularity of the expression “pede suspenso”, or “suspenso pede” seems to originate from the Fable of Aesop/Phaedrus “The Eagle, the Cat, and the Sow”. In this fable, which may be read in Latin here: Aquila Feles et Aper and in Laura Gibbs’ English Translation ; the cat "Evagata noctu suspenso pede", Which Gibbs translates as: she “crept out at night on tiptoe.”

This cat is remembered by Hans Christian Anderson in O.T., A Danish Romance …when he writes, [The Devil] is well-dressed, and conceals his claws and his tail! Do not rely upon thy strength! He goes about, like the cat in the fable, “pede suspenso’, sneakingly and cautiously!” (page 80)

The expression is also used by Henry Osborn Taylor in The English Mind 1920 when he writes of Queen Elizabeth, that "she approached matters of advances from royal suitors "tam timido et suspenso pede! (page 236)

A google book search reveals many other examples where it is used to mean "timidly and cautiously" - aka with "prudence".
 

firemaiden

Helvetica said:
Much effort has been expended in debunking Gébelin. But - albeit for the wrong reasons - he might well be right in part.

I can't tell you an awful lot more, as I have Professor Desroches Noblecourt's book on order. If I find anything relevant in the reading, I shall post it.

I have a feeling you will find something relevant! Waiting eagerly :)
 

andrem

firemaiden said:
-I am happy to know there is another translation to be found somewhere.

"Rhapsodies of the Bizarre" was published in June, 2002. It is the full English translation of the Gébelin-Mellet texts, with extensive notes explaining them.

LINK REMOVED BY MODERATOR
 

December Fairy

I just found this thread.
Thank you so much for posting the translations.
I wouldn't have been able to read it.
 

firemaiden

You are welcome December Fairy, and of course, I'm not done yet! I intend to translate all the rest of his blurbs on the cards. Thank you for reminding me of this thread!
 

firemaiden

Somehow I skipped the Chariot...

Here is what he has to say about the Chariot:

No. VII - Osiris Triumphant.

Osiris advances next; he appears in the form of a triumpant King, scepter in hand, crown on his head: he is in his Warriar chariot, drawn by two white horses. Everyone knows that Osiris was the great Deity of the Egyptians, as well as for all the Sabian peoples, or the Sun, physical symbol of the supreme invisible diety, but who manifested himself in this masterpiece of nature. He had been lost during the winter, and reappeared in the spring with new brightness, having triumphed over everything which was waging war against him.