6. Conclusion and Appendix A: Trump Keywords

The correlations and probable means of transmission between the Bolognese cartomancy sheet and Etteilla’s earliest systems (two of them) have been examined. While there is significant correlation in the cartomantic meanings for the suit cards the two systems have in common, allowing for the difference in appearance between Bolognese and French-suited cards, they are often jumbled in what cards they go with, making it difficult to come to any definite conclusion about how the correlations came to exist.

We have also examined arguments put forward in favor of an Italian origin based on the presence of fantesche, the handwriting, and the specifically Italian associations in the Bolognese sheet, none of which is persuasive. There are also specific associations to Italian as opposed to French features of court cards and suit symbols in Etteilla’s cartomantic meanings; yet these Italian features were also present in French Tarots.

It is quite possible that thirty or forty years before the 1770s, a system of meanings for ordinary cards spread northward to France, getting jumbled in its assignments even while preserving its concepts accurately and adapting them to French piquet deck. In that case it may well be that the interest stimulated by Etteilla is the reason why we have a written record of Bolognese meanings then and not earlier. On the other hand, it is easier to account for the correlations apart from the jumble if they came about as a result of a single written source, of which the likeliest is from Jacques Saint Sauveur to someone in Venice and from there to Bologna.

APPENDIX A: Keywords for the triumphs, listed in their order on the Bolognese sheet, compared to the corresponding keywords in Etteilla’s Third Cahier (for which see section 4). Scans of the sheet (BUB 4029-R1) follow, as provided to the author by the staff of the Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna.

Stella: gift (regalo). Etteilla: loss (dépouillement)

Angelo: marriage and accomodation (sposalizio e accomodamento). Etteilla: judgment (jugement)

Carro: journey, viaggio. Etteilla: noise (bruit), dispute (dissension)

Mondo: long journey, viaggio lungo. Etteilla: journey (voyage)

Traditore: betrayal, tradimento. Etteilla: prudence

Diavolo: anger, rabbia. Etteilla: superior force (force majeur)

Luna: night, notte. Etteilla: harmful talk (coup de langue)

Sole: day, giorno. Etteilla: enlightenment (éclaircissement)

Barattino [sic]: married man, uomo maritato. Etteilla: illnesses, health (maladies, santé)

Matto: madness, pazzia. Etteilla: madness (folie)

Amore: love, amore. Etteilla: marriage (mariage)

Forza: violence, violenza. Etteilla: strength (force)

Morte: death, morte. Etteilla: death (mort)

Tempra: time, tempo. Etteilla: one needs to temper oneself, (il faut se tempérer)

Il Vecchio: an old man, un vecchio. Etteilla: hypocrite, traitor (hypocrite, traitre)