Tarocchi

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of card game originating in Italy, often played with a special deck for both gaming and divinatory purposes
2. A traditional set of cards used for games including trick-taking, as well as for fortune-telling and tarot readings
3. Playing cards that hold significant cultural context, used both for entertainment in games and for mystical interpretations in divination

Etymology: The tarocchi are the Italian tarot cards, and their name is older than their use for fortune-telling. The game came first: tarocchi appear in north Italian card play in the 15th century, most famously in the Milanese and Ferrarese decks made for the Visconti and d'Este courts. The word is generally traced to an Italian dialect form, likely from Latin roots, and is linked to "tarocco," a term for a card game and for a trump card, but its exact origin remains uncertain. Fortune-telling only attached itself to these cards in the 18th century. Antoine Court de Gébelin, a French writer, claimed in 1781 that the trumps preserved ancient Egyptian wisdom, and that claim, not any medieval practice, launched the occult reading of the deck. The game of tarocchi, with its trump suit and scoring, remains played in Italy and central Europe today.

Synonyms: tarot cards