The term "Magician" for the first card in Tarot

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 05 Sep 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Diana	05 Sep 2003
Does anyone know when was the first time the word "Magician" was used to indicate the first card in Tarot? In French, it was "Le Bateleur". In Italian "Bagatino". Which doesn't really translate as Magician. There was no mention of Magicians in the early decks (as there were no mention of Pentacles or Wands.) Is this just yet another Golden Dawn invention, or was this term used on English versions of Marseilles and Italian decks when these decks started being "translated".

AmounrA	05 Sep 2003
I found this on a web site - http://www.tarothermit.com/magician.htm "The original Italian name for the Magician, Bagatella (or Bagatto or Bagatino) is a not a commonplace word in Italian. It is apparently derived from the word for stick or wand, so that a Bagatella is someone who uses a wand, hence a magician. The French name for the card, Bateleur, is thus a close translation. The English "Magician" is a clumsy but serviceable analog. ("Juggler" or "Mountebank" are also fair renderings.) Probably because of long association with the tarot card, the Italian word has also come to mean a trifle or a thing of little worth. It is also a word for "cobbler" in the dialect of Milan. This is interesting because Milanese tarots for the last two centuries have depicted the Magician as a cobbler, complete with a half-made shoe on his work table (see the Soprafino Tarot). Which came first, the picture or the word? We can't say, but it is intriguing to speculate that the Milanese design may be a throwback to the "artisan" pictured in the Tarocchi del Mantegna. The Milanese designs include another enertaining feature: instead of a wand, the Bagatto holds up one of the cups from his table, presumably well filled with wine."

HudsonGray	05 Sep 2003
I suppose it's better than "one who has a lot of things up in the air under his control". I wondered about the name too, thanks for the Italian/French info!

The The term "Magician" for the first card in Tarot thread was originally posted on 05 Sep 2003 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.