At 10:57 AM 1/29/02, Michael Everson wrote:
>Whether or not that Wilkinson is right, I don't believe that the shamrock
>can be identified with the club suit, and I would ask that the note be
>removed. I'd just as soon the same thing hold for the note to the heart suit.
I agree with Michael on this, although I disagree with some of his specifics:
>A shamrock is "any of various plants with trifoliate leaves, esp.
>Trifolium minus, T. repens, or Medicago lupulina, used as the national
>emblem of Ireland." Shamrock leaves are *heart-shaped*.
>
>A clover, on the other hand, has round leaves, usually three, four when
>you're lucky. A clover is not used as an emblem for Ireland, not is a
>clover pictured in �slensk ordab�k as a symbol for botany.
The English word for plants of the genus Trifolium is "clover". Medicago is
often called "bur-clover" (although one of its species is alfalfa). Some
clovers and some bur-clovers have heart-shaped ("emarginate") leaflets,
others do not.
The French trefoil is possibly Trifolium dubium, which lacks emarginate
leaves (I don't have any references at hand).
>Further, the card suits do not derive from symbols of hearts, spades,
>diamonds, or clubs. From http://www.themysticeye.com/info/playingcard.htm :
The suits also correspond to the traditional directional/elemental tools of
Medieval ceremonial magic (which are preserved in modern traditions such as
Golden Dawn and Wicca): wands are the east, air, and knowledge; swords are
the south, fire, and will; cups are the west, water, and feeling; and
pentacles are the north, earth, and silence.
--
Curtis Clark http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
Mockingbird Font Works http://www.mockfont.com/
