Waite uses the Book T titles for the Minors - and if you look at the illustrations Pixie did, all of them are in line with an interpretation of those titles (based on decans, yes, but if you're not into astrology, you can just use the titles). I think the extra or additional meanings that Waite gives are from cartomancy - meaning not just playing cards, but earlier use of Tarot for fortune-telling, sometimes referred to as "Gypsy," which would have used Marseille cards, or Tarocchi (which were game decks of the time), or the smaller game decks (32 and 36 card piquet/Lenormand) and tend toward more mundane every day interpretations. I think the frustration people feel is in wanting to be told: "this card definitely means this." It's a symbol system which different cultures read differently and has evolved over time. If you think of it as a book and the different card meanings as interpretations, I think it's easier to digest, and then you pick and choose what's right for you. I do think many people choose Marseille over RWS for the reasons you're expressing, and many take it a step further and read with Majors only, and then the Majors take on mundane meanings. The cards are very versatile that way. But if you want to use the RWS "traditionally" - stick with the titles for the Minors, and don't worry about Waite's additional cartomantic meanings. He was a scholar, he's just being thorough. I do think that material is meant more as a footnote for people who were interested. If they don't make sense to you, don't use them. As far as your original question: "where did he get them?" - I think it's safe to assume he's talking about fortune-telling tradition, he may have read them or learned them along the way (his paper was on the French system, right? So probably wherever he learned that), but does it matter? Those traditions were largely word-of-mouth. Where it was printed it was usually just a commercial interpretation by card companies to produce Victorian parlor games as spiritualism became popular, and then those meanings became traditional, since they were available, and in print.
