NAME.
THE first positive mention of Playing-cards is in a manuscript by Nicholas de Covellezzo, which is preserved among the Archives of Viterbo. “In 1379,” says the Chronicler, “playing-cards were introduced in Viterbo. These came from the country of the Saracens, and were called Naïb.” The Italians have for centuries called their cards Naibi, and in Spain they are still named Naypes.
M. la Croix remarks that in Arabic the word Naïb signifies “captain,” and declares that this name proves the military origin of Cards, and points to their connection with Chess.
Mr. Taylor, in his work on Playing-cards, quotes from the above-mentioned manuscript by Nicholas de Covellezzo, which records the introduction of cards into Italy, and says: “The use of the term Naïb in Italy for cards is one of the strongest proofs of their introduction into Europe by the gypsies. To this day they are called in Spain Naypes, which is clearly a corruption of the Arabic Nabi, ‘a prophet;’ and we have therefore the significant fact that cards have been and are still called in Spain by a title which fortune-tellers (gypsies, in fact) might easily be supposed to claim.”
Mr. Singer quotes from various authorities to show the derivation of the word Naipes, and says that “it may mean ‘flat’ or ‘even,’” which would describe a card; and also that the Hebrew word Naibes denotes “sorcery, fortune-telling, prediction,” etc.
Mr. Chatto derives the same word from one found in Hindostanee, Na-eeb or Naib, which signifies a viceroy, lieutenant, or deputy, and says: “As the game of Chess was known in Hindostan by the name of ‘The Four Kings,’ if cards were suggested by Chess and invented in the same country, the supposition that they might have been called Chatier-Nawaub, ‘The Four Viceroys,’ as the cognate game of Chess was called ‘The Four Kings,’ and that this name subsequently became changed into Chartati-Naib, is at least as probable as the derivation of Naipes from N. P., the initials of Nicolas Pepin, their supposed inventor;” which derivation is gravely given by another author.
It is only in Italy that the old name of Naipes or Naibi is retained. In Portugal the word has become corrupted into Naipe; in Spain, Naypes or Naipes. In France cards are called Cartes à jouer; and a pack is named a Jeu. In Germany they are termed Briefe and Karten and Spielkarten. In Holland the name is Kaarten or Speelkaarten; in Denmark, Kort or Spelkort; and in Russia, Kartu. The term Alea, which was frequently employed in ancient ordinances and laws, seems to cover all games of chance, and is not used to signify playing-cards alone. The derivation of the English word card from the French carte is too plain to require further comment.