Curse of Scotland 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 of
Playing card down. The latter two correspond with the "ober" and "unter" cards found in German and Swiss playing cards. The Italians and Iberians replaced the / system with the "Knight" and "" or "" before 1390, perhaps to make the cards more visually distinguishable. In England, the lowest court card was called the "knave" which originally meant "male child" (compare German ), so in this context the character could represent the "prince", son to the king and queen; the meaning "servant" developed later. Queens appeared sporadically in packs as early as 1377, especially in Germany. Although the Germans abandoned the queen