Italian alphabet

Rusty Neon

Given that others have tried to establish iconographic or esoteric associations between the 22 letters of the Hebrew or Phoenician alphabets and the 22 major arcana (i.e., the 21 trumps plus the Fool), I was wondering whether anyone has ever looked at iconographic or esoteric associations between the 21 letters of the Italian alphabet and the 21 trumps? After all, many argue that the tarot originated in what is now Italy.

Thanks.
 

jmd

Both Ravenswing and AmounrA have, from memory, presented their own versions of correlations between the modern expanded Roman/Latin (which Italian also utilises) alphabet and the 22 Atouts.

Of course, this does not suggest that Tarot originates from northern Italy in the slightest.

For those who wish to discover the 21 letters of early Roman (and their relatively obvious connection to both Greek and Hebrew), this page (Roman Alphabet) is about the simplest and clearest I have found (numerous books, however, discuss the same in more detailed ways).

In order, the letters are
  • A B C D E F Z H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X
 

Cerulean

Great question/topics to read...

Thanks Rusty for posting the question and JMD for that Roman link. I was interested to read there was folkloric ideas that Italic was an imitation of Petracha's writing.

I don't know if the Filpas site really answers Rusty's question, but Mark did analyze the 22 Tarocco Milano trumps and decorative detail in the last essay of the site link that I posted--although the trumps analyzed was 19th century designs.

If I find anything closer or someone else does, I'm keeping my eyes open. Letterforms as symbolic art is fascinating to me.

Regards,

Cerulean Mari
 

Fulgour

Rusty Neon said:
Given that others have tried to establish iconographic or esoteric associations between the 22 letters of the Hebrew or Phoenician alphabets and the 22 major arcana...
You may be going the hard way around. A good question to ask is,
"Why was any alphabet created ever?" Right from the start you will
find that it wasn't invented to teach the abc's. The hands of the ancient
scholars worked thousands of years to preserve their knowledge, bravely
in a world of constant strife and uncertainty. Contained in the alphabet
they created are the keys to the wisdom of the heavens, something
eternal that could be used as a library, a repository. And it's still there.