Poor fellow...

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 28 Mar 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Simone	28 Mar 2004
I'm really wondering: How's he really called now? I've seen him named "Heirophant", "Heriophant", "Hierophant"... (as long as he keeps his H and does not become an L-e-phant :joke: ) I always thought it was "Hierophant", but now I don't know. Could anyone help me out? Thanks Simone

CreativeFire	28 Mar 2004
Hi Simone I have always referred to him as "Hierophant" - but you just made me go and check a few decks and books to make sure :) LOL In all my "standard" type decks and tarot books I have he is "Hierophant" so that is probably why - have not come across the other variations that you mentioned. Maybe someone else can shed more light on this. CreativeFire

firemaiden	28 Mar 2004
My dear Simone, the first two are misspellings. Its easy to remember - the first part is like German "hier" - he is always here, so he is a "here" o-phant, instead of a "there" ophant. Personally, I perfer the term "harumphant" which I use to describe friends who take on the role - aka my good friend Major Tom. :D :D

Moongold	28 Mar 2004
Higher- o- phants are just another version of ele -phants except that they are more advanced phants according to my Dr. Seuss dictionary.

Simone	28 Mar 2004
:D :D :D :D Thanks friends! (I thought there were misspellings somewhere, but I wondered if I was the one... as none of my books are in English...) Higher-o-pants, :D, what are those? opposite to waste pants (or waistbands, however this thing is spelled :D) Thanks again Simone

firemaiden	28 Mar 2004
...or is it rather, that the poor fellow is living in the past, hier instead of demain, (which explains why the french call him le pape instead).

Moongold	28 Mar 2004
No Hiero is Greek and the Marseilles didn't begin in Greece .......or did it? A new theory Wow!

diane drizzy	28 Mar 2004
Haven't I seen some decks refer to him as the Pope or Papess(sp?)

Simone	28 Mar 2004
Quote: Originally posted by diane drizzy Haven't I seen some decks refer to him as the Pope or Papess(sp?) Yes, I presume this will be Marseilles-inspired decks - Diana, help, could you confirm this for me? ;) Love Simone

Emily	28 Mar 2004
This is the only card that I have to check to make sure I've got it spelled right - doing my journal I finally cracked and now refer to him as The Priest in it. :D

Simone	28 Mar 2004
LOL Emily, so you have degraded him in your hierarchy? :laugh: Love Simone

tmgrl2	28 Mar 2004
OK...you guys!! Simone was serious here (heh, heh, heh) so I'll give the serious link: bartleby.com/61/3/HO/190300.html It could also mean "Go up, go up, Oh Great Phantom!" (higher-o-phant?) ouch! teri

Simone	28 Mar 2004
Quote: Originally posted by tmgrl2 OK...you guys!! Simone was serious here was I, now? :laugh: mmmmmmmh, perhaps in the beginning, just a slight little bit. But the rising o-phant-om, now that's an idea! (feels almost like Shanti Om ;) )

Moongold	28 Mar 2004
This is SOOOOO disrespectful :D You guys ain't gonna get anywhere on the day of judgement. Hierophant gonna pull that bridge he guards twixt the inner and outer sanctums right back when he sees you on the horizon. Don't you worry about that.........

Diana	28 Mar 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Simone Yes, I presume this will be Marseilles-inspired decks - Diana, help, could you confirm this for me? ;) Yes, I can confirm this. There were no hierophants, elephants, or any kind of phants in France in the Middle Ages. But they had lots and lots of Popes in those days. Sometimes even two at the same time. :D Anyway, Hierophants don't make good chocolate medals.

HudsonGray	28 Mar 2004
Elephants? I always associated the actual word to the spelling of 'hieroglyphics' so I pronounce it High row phant, myself. And what's the old song.... I before E except after C? Though there are a few words that doesn't work with -- weird, protein, etc.

Moongold	28 Mar 2004
High Row Phant? I love it :) Who said we were all equal in God's garden???? I guess we can all aspire to higher things however. I always had phantasies about being in the hier row. :CL

Marion	28 Mar 2004
haha, those are great. So, I looked it up in my lil' old computer dictionary An expounder of sacred mysteries; an interpreter of an esoteric principle. ele-phants works too.

Umbrae	28 Mar 2004
Lets' end this discussion. The correct spelling is: Le Pape. Anything else is a hoax. :smoker:

I do not know	28 Mar 2004
higher-o-fant There's an audio pronunciation here: http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?hierop01.wav=hierophant Apparently, using American English pronunciation, one cannot spell this word phonetically. Guilty as CHARGED. :-( On a brighter note: I will (usually) avoid correcting others' misusage. :-) Musical variation: Maybe it should be lower- or higher-o-phart. I do not know

tmgrl2	29 Mar 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Umbrae Lets' end this discussion. The correct spelling is: Le Pape. Anything else is a hoax. :smoker: Oh, no...you're going to dislike my post on the "Fundamental" thread started by jmd....le pape indeed! terri

WalesWoman	29 Mar 2004
OR the Hell-a-phant I care, when I'm bucking tradition, then Hello-phant when it kicks me.

Shalott	30 Mar 2004
You mean it's NOT High row phant? Maybe my own midwestern, fly-over country accent is playing with my ears but that's what it sounded like on the audio thing to me!!! Actually, since my very first deck was my own recreation of a French Swiss 1JJ, no matter how steeped in RWS I become, he will remain Le Pape to me. And the Hanged Man Le Pendu...so much shorter when writing in my journal... :D lay POP

The Poor fellow... thread was originally posted on 28 Mar 2004 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.