Curse of Scotland Gurney Benham's book about playing cards, in describing the game of Pope Joan he gives his own explanation for why this card is known as the Curse of Scotland: "The crown of Scotland contained only nine stones, as they never could afford a tenth". Eric Partridge's "Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang" considers: “the various theories are as interesting as they are unconvincing”. "Collins Encyclopedia of Scotland" says for "Curse of Scotland" "This is usually taken to be the nine of diamonds playing card, though explanations differ". The 19th century Tarot of Marseilles is one of the standard designs for tarot
Deuce (playing card) later Middle High German word, "dûs", which was borrowed from the North French word, "daus". This corresponds to the French word for "two", "deux", which in turn came from the Latin "duos" and "duo". On the introduction of playing cards into the German language area at the end of the 14th century, the word was also transferred to the cards with the value 2. This card became the highest value playing card in the German card deck, the equivalent to the Ace in the French deck. On the German playing card with the 2, the deuce, there is often a