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A trump card could be defined as a playing card that is part of a suit of trump cards. In general, a suit of trump cards could be defined as a suit that is assigned a superior ranking that qualifies players to take tricks subject to rules that are not applicable to the remaining suits. In the context of tarot cards, a suit of trump cards could be defined as a suit that comprises a variable number of playing cards that serve exclusively as trump cards. [Note: in a trick-taking card game, a trick, which is taken or won, comprises the cards that are played during a round of gameplay. The first player to play a card is said to lead to a trick and each subsequent player is said to follow to the trick.] Rev. Walter Skeat notes that the term trump is a corruption of the term triumph [1], which he traces to the Latin triumphus [2]. [Note: Additionally, Skeat traces the etymology of the term triump to a Greek term* that he notes is used in reference to a hymn to Bacchus [3]. In consideration of the aforementioned, it is remarkable that the iconography of the fifth trump card of the Belgian Tarot should feature a representation of Bacchus.] In the Tarot de Marseille patterns, there are 21 numerically ranked trump cards. * The editor of the Online Etymology Dictionary cites the Greek term thriambos [4]. Using a transliteration application [5], I was able to confirm that thriambos is a transliteration of the Greek term that Skeat renders in Greek characters. Concerning the Classification of The Madman or The Fool as a Trump Card On his website, John McLeod notes that in Il Mondo e l’Angelo, Sir Michael Dummett distinguishes between three types of tarot card games, namely, type 1 (which comprises certain tarot card games that were originated in Italy), type 2, and type 3 (which comprises certain tarot card games that were developed as of the eighteenth century) [6]. According to my understanding of the descriptions that McLeod provides and of the rules of certain of the relevant tarot card games, the tarot card games that comprise type 1 (such as the game of Minchiate and the game of Sicilian Tarocchi) and those that comprise type 2 (such as the game of Troccas) are those in which a player cannot win the trick to which he or she leads or follows The Fool. The tarot card games that comprise type 3 (such as the game of Hungarian Tarokk) are those in which The Fool, which is assigned the highest ranking, is played according to the rules that govern the play of trump cards (in describing type 3, McLeod uses the term trump card in reference to The Fool). In the game of Troggu, which does not fit into the aforesaid categories, The Fool may be played as in the tarot card games that comprise types 1 and 2 or as in the tarot card games that comprise type 3. In consideration of the aforementioned, one cannot accurately classify The Fool as being a trump card except, perhaps, in the contexts of certain tarot card games. References: 1. Skeat, Walter W (1888). An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Page 666. 2. Ibid. Page 663. 3. Ibid. Page 663. 4. Online Etymology Dictionary. URL: https://www.etymonline.com/word/triumph#etymonline_v_17846. Retrieved 8 March 2020. 5. Transliterating English to Greek in One Step. URL: https://stevemorse.org/greek/eng2grk.html. Retrieved 8 march 2020. 6. Card Games: Tarot Games. URL: https:www.pagat.com/tarot/. Retrieved 8 March 2020. Copyright © Kevin J W Mellors
