pips

goddesscarlie

kwaw said:
Well we might think it is related to a pip as in the pips of a fruit, pip being a shortened form of pippin. However, as relating to the emblems or spots on playing cards, dice, dominos or numbers of moves in backgammon the etymological dictionary relates it to the old English pepen, possibly an alternative form of piken, from which the English words peep and peek are derived. The same derivation relates to its military use in the British Army as in the stars on a uniform to indicate rank, and as a term in botany to indicate a single blossom in a cluster. To peep is among other things a transitive verb meaning to cause to emerge or become visible, a first glimpse or appearance, eg, the peep of dawn, the moon peeped through the clouds.

How does this relate to cards? Well it is probably rooted in the idea of something hidden becoming revealed, as in the first turn of the cards, or the showing of one's hand.

A very appropriate term also perhaps, in a sense meaning revelation, for something used for divination. Of the fortune teller who uses them to take a peep [transitory glimpse] into one's future.

Kwaw

Thanks for that information Kwaw! Very interesting. I had thought that perhaps it was related to pips in fruit, similar to dots on dice etc, but then again I had never really thought about it before. I love learning about the history/evolution of words, I think it is facinating (I'm a writer, so I know the importance of words!)
 

kwaw

The pips on a soldiers uniform [which may for example be stripes, chevrons, stars] indicate by their number the soldiers rank.

A pip is any emblem that indicates number/rank by the number of each emblem on the card. The emblem can be anything, the spots on a dice or domino, or in cards for example swords, hearts, acorns, monkeys or parrots etc. The level of illustration is irrelevant, the Waite/Smith tarot deck contains pip cards just as an ordinary pack of playing cards, using repetition of the suits emblem to indicate number/rank. The court cards are not pip cards because the emblem on these cards, while indicating suit, do not indicate number or rank.

Kwaw
 

finaflight

what r pips

thanx for all you (pip) replies, it`s clear to me know.
 

SunChariot

Moonbow* said:
Pips are the numbered cards Ace to Ten in the Minors. Although most people now relate pips to being in non-scenic decks such as the Marseilles.

Yep, the Minor Arcana cards, minus the Court cards. Courts are considered separately.

Babs