How many pairs?

[kwaw]

Argumenta tibi mensis concedo December.

December from the calendar in Chronography of 354

The verses and illustrations of the months are generally inspired by their festivals [here Saturnalia], their labours (here in text in side margin to sowing seeds, hunting), weather (here rain), and position (close of the year).

Quote:
DECEMBER
"Annua sulcatae conectens semina terrae Pascit hiems: Pluvio de Iove cuncta madent. Aurea nunc revocet Saturno festa December: Nunc tibi cum domino ludere, verna, licet.

"Winter, collecting in the furrows of earth the seeds of the annual sowing, makes it fertile. Everything drips with rain. Now December may dedicate again its merry feasts to Saturn (i.e. may again celebrate the Saturnalia): now, 0 slave, it is granted you to play with your master.

"Arguments tuis festis concedo, December, guale sis quamvis annum claudere possis (?).

"I leave to your festivals, 0 December, to describe you, although such as you are, you bring the year to a close ( ?).

“… the main scene in the Calendar of Filocalus, leaving aside all naturalistic elements, draws its inspiration only from the feast of Saturnalia: here is the slave, but wearing the winter garments of the shepherd or rather of the hunter, skin-boots and a short skincloak around his breast; he holds a torch and plays dice, which are visible on a little table near their characteristic tumbler, called pyrgos. Another hint at the festival is a mask high up in the field on the left. The leaf-shaped objects below on the right are difficult to interpret; on the corner above is hanging the bundle of thrushes which we have seen in the hunter's hand in the Carthage mosaic, and which brings us back to the hunting activity pursued in this month.”
End quote from:
“THE ALLEGORIES OF THE MONTHS IN CLASSICAL ART by Doro Levi in The Art Bulletin Vol. 23, No. 4 (Dec., 1941), pp. 251-291

Kwaw

 

[kwaw]

Thomas Elyot, The Dictionary of Sir Thomas Elyot (1538)

Canicula, a lyttell dogge or bytche. Also a sterre, wherof canicular or dogge days be named Dies caniculares.

John Withals, A Short Dictionary for Young Beginners (1556)

Canicula, culę, is the littell blacke title in the dice, wherby the chaunce is knowen, as sise, sinke , catre, treye, dewse, ase.

Kwaw
The life of Man is like a game of Dice...

A tower. Pyrgus. Hora. A bore out of which men cast dice when they play. Also a companie of horsemen in battaile containing 40. souldiours.

Also, another name for the pyrgos is a turricula:

A little tower. Also a bore out of the which dice are cast.

So we have in canicula (star card) and turricula (tower card) a relation to the pips [little black tittle] of the dice and the shaker from which a die is thrown; and the 'stars' and 'falling stars' (round 'smarties' or meteours) of the star card and tower card we may see as related metaphorically to the pips of the die; also one of the other meanings of Pyrgus as a companie of horsemen in battaile containing 40 souldiours in which if see a possible reference to 40 pip cards, we may see as analagous to a company of 40 soldiers [who also wear emblematic 'pips' to represent rank].

Kwaw
ref:
Thomas Cooper Thesaurus Linguae Romanae et Britannicae (1584)

 

[kwaw]

It would not be a totally unreasonable idea that the 21 possible throws of two dice were given specific names, and perhaps divinatory meanings. They even resemble the geomantic figures. Has there been any research in this area?

Melanchollic

Bruce McLennan’s "Pythagorean Tarot" site has some information on Dice and Tarot:
http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/PT/Mintro.html#dice

Nicholas Purcell has an excellent article Literate games: Roman urban society and the game of 'alea.' that is available online here:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2279/is_n147/ai_18253697/pg_1

The Warburg Digital Collection is well worth a search and includes for example Libro della sorti di Lorenzo Spirito:
http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/pdf/fmh3140w.pdf

Full index of online collection here:
http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/mnemosyne/DigitalCollections.htm

Kwaw

 

[kwaw]

There is also the connection with Azár meaning both a pricke or note in a die and ill token, an euill signe,(also re: the game of hazard that became our modern 'craps'); also relationship between tarot and dice favours I think the possible meaning of tarot being to be 'covered in holes' like a die - see thread on tarot as meaning holemaker here:

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=68779&page=1&pp=10

A possible relationship between name and divinatory meaning we may see in the roll of two ones, the lowest score in many games and thus related to 'bad luck'; the name snakes eyes for a roll of two ones in dice is a 20th century designation, another and far older designation was the 'dogs' or the dog throw; the pair of dogs in the moon card could then be associated with the dog throw and thus be read as a sign of ill omen or bad luck?

Kwaw

 

[kwaw]

A possible relationship between name and divinatory meaning we may see in the roll of two ones, the lowest score in many games and thus related to 'bad luck'; the name snakes eyes for a roll of two ones in dice is a 20th century designation, another and far older designation was the 'dogs' or the dog throw; the pair of dogs in the moon card could then be associated with the dog throw and thus be read as a sign of ill omen or bad luck?

Kwaw

According to online etymological dictionary:
“In ancient times, "the dog" was the worst throw in dice (attested in Gk., L., and Skt., where the word for "the lucky player" was lit. "the dog-killer"), which plausibly explains the Gk. word for "danger," kindynas, which appears to be "play the dog."

Also we have bitch female dog as a term also meaning cursed:
"bitched in this sense seems to echo M.E. bicched "cursed, bad," a general term of opprobrium (e.g. Chaucer's bicched bones "(unlucky) dice"), which despite the hesitation of OED, seems certainly to be a derivative of bitch."

This and other words in reference to dice in etymological dictionary here:

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=dice&searchmode=none

Kwaw

 

[kwaw]

Dogs and Crabs and Dice

A possible relationship between name and divinatory meaning we may see in the roll of two ones, the lowest score in many games and thus related to 'bad luck'; the name snakes eyes for a roll of two ones in dice is a 20th century designation, another and far older designation was the 'dogs' or the dog throw; the pair of dogs in the moon card could then be associated with the dog throw and thus be read as a sign of ill omen or bad luck?

Kwaw

And, as Rosanne has noted, the name of the game 'craps' it is said is a French-American corruption of the English terms 'crabs', the name of the losing throw of 2 in the game of Hazard ~ thus we have another dicing / taort connecting reference with dogs and crab of the moon card.

Kwaw