Curse of Scotland play. Curse of Scotland The Curse of Scotland is a nickname used for the Nine of Diamonds playing card. The expression has been used at least since the early 18th century, and many putative explanations have been given for the origin of this nickname for the card. In a book printed in London in 1708, "The British Apollo, or, Curious amusements for the ingenious", a question is posed: Q. "Why is the" Nine of Diamonds "called" the curse of Scotland? A. Diamonds as the Ornamental Jewels of a Regnal Crown, imply no more in the above-nam'd Proverb than a mark
Deuce (playing card) between the Deuce and the Sow is evinced by Johann Leonhard Frisch in his 1741 German-Latin dictionary: ""Sow in card game, from the figure of a sow, which is painted on the Deuce of Acorns, whence the other deuces are also called Sows."" How the boar ended up on the playing card is unknown. Hellmut Rosenfeld suspects that it was derived from the prize sow that played a role in local shooting festivals ("Schützenfesten") and which was linked with the last sheaf of the harvest. The description "Sau" may have been a corruption of the word "Daus", and the depiction