04 August 2023 , 13:19
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They were invented during the Tang dynasty in around 1000AD - and almost every person on the planet has now played with them. Playing cards have been redesigned time and time again, with countries taking their own creative freedom when it comes to identifying the four suits.
However, both the United Kingdom and United States have adopted the French variation - using hearts, diamonds, clovers and spades. A statement from LiveAbout reads: "French cards were exported to England around 1480, and the English carried over their names for clubs and spades from the older Latin suits.
"Import of foreign playing cards was banned in 1628 in England, so they began to produce their own cards. The French Rouen designs of the face cards were reworked by Charles Goodall and Sons in the 19th century to give us the common designs seen today."
Despite the fact the 'modern design' has been around for hundreds of years, people are only just realising what the four suits actually represent. One Reddit user asked: "What do the different playing cards (and their symbols) mean? I have heard there is a song that ascribes biblical meaning to the different cards. I also know that the different Kings and Queens and Jacks were historical figures. They also have very interesting symbology - my question is what do they represent?"
According to legend, the French suits represent the four classes, with spades representing nobility, hearts standing for the clergy, diamonds representing the vassals or merchants, and clubs are peasants. The LiveAbout statement adds: "It is commonly believed that the four suits in a deck of modern English playing cards derive from French decks of cards that were developed from the Germanic suits around 1480. In turn, the Germans adapted their suits from the Latin suits. The names we currently use stem from English names, some of which carried over from the Latin suits.
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"The French suits that now typically appear in the United States a variation of the Germanic suits. They keep the hearts, but instead of bells, they used carreaux, which are tiles or diamonds. Of interest, there was a crescent suit instead of diamonds before the French settled on diamonds. The acorns became trèfles, standing for clovers or clubs. Instead of leaves, they had piques for pikes or spades. In the German tradition, bells (which became the French diamonds) were the nobility, and leaves (which became the French clubs) were the merchant middle class."
Commenting on this revelation, one user said: "It makes more sense when you change them back to the original suits: swords (a symbol of knights and the lords they serve), cups (reminiscent of the chalice or wine goblet commonly used in Christian services), coins (self-explanatory), and staffs (carried by farmers and travellers both as a walking stick and a form of defence)."
Another user claims: "The pictures of the four kings represent famous rulers of the past. Spades, King David of Israel, clubs, Alexander the Great, hearts, Charlemagne the French King and diamonds, Caesar Augustus of Rome." A third user said: "The Ace was originally the low card until the French Revolution. Then it was high as an homage to the peasantry overthrowing the aristocracy."