One of my father’s favorite quotes on the subject:
“A knave; a rascal; an eater of broken meats; a
base, proud, shallow, beggarly … action-taking knave” Earl of Kent, King Lear; Act II, Scene 2.
Louise Hope:
August 26th, 2012 at 10:08 pm
I always thought Harold Russell was the guy who won an Oscar for getting his arms shot off.
Dan S.:
August 28th, 2012 at 11:19 am
I read somewhere that “Jack” became the common term for the card when letters were added for easy identification; “K” stood for King, so some other letter had to be used for what had been called the Knave. Perhaps they could have used “N” as a phonetic rendering of Knave, but they didn’t.
Sam Long:
September 12th, 2012 at 4:49 am
If we still used Anglo-Saxon lables for cards, we would have “C” for “cyning”, king; “C” for “cwen”, queen; and “C” for “cnafa”, knave. Then things would be really confusing.
YossiD:
November 11th, 2013 at 12:59 am
In Hebrew, the knave/jack has been promoted to royalty and is called “nasich” meaning prince.
I wonder why there isn’t a fourth face card with a lady servant/princess.
Jasper:
April 12th, 2016 at 6:24 pm
Thanks for this – interesting to discover the history of the two words.
Quick note though – you’re wrong to say that knave is still more common in Britain today. The vast majority of people here call it a Jack. It is almost always printed as a J on card packs. Sometimes people do call it a Knave but it’s either used ironically by someone who is aware that it is an archaism, or ostentatiously by someone who thinks it will impress others.
Bob:
October 2nd, 2019 at 2:10 pm
Thanks. I was thinking King, Queen, “Jack”?
“Why not Prince? Is Jack an archaic synonym for Prince?”
I never thought of servant. Your explanation is convincing. I hope it’s also correct.
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Tygr:
August 25th, 2012 at 7:20 pm
One of my father’s favorite quotes on the subject:
“A knave; a rascal; an eater of broken meats; a
base, proud, shallow, beggarly … action-taking knave” Earl of Kent, King Lear; Act II, Scene 2.
Louise Hope:
August 26th, 2012 at 10:08 pm
I always thought Harold Russell was the guy who won an Oscar for getting his arms shot off.
Dan S.:
August 28th, 2012 at 11:19 am
I read somewhere that “Jack” became the common term for the card when letters were added for easy identification; “K” stood for King, so some other letter had to be used for what had been called the Knave. Perhaps they could have used “N” as a phonetic rendering of Knave, but they didn’t.
Sam Long:
September 12th, 2012 at 4:49 am
If we still used Anglo-Saxon lables for cards, we would have “C” for “cyning”, king; “C” for “cwen”, queen; and “C” for “cnafa”, knave. Then things would be really confusing.
YossiD:
November 11th, 2013 at 12:59 am
In Hebrew, the knave/jack has been promoted to royalty and is called “nasich” meaning prince.
I wonder why there isn’t a fourth face card with a lady servant/princess.
Jasper:
April 12th, 2016 at 6:24 pm
Thanks for this – interesting to discover the history of the two words.
Quick note though – you’re wrong to say that knave is still more common in Britain today. The vast majority of people here call it a Jack. It is almost always printed as a J on card packs. Sometimes people do call it a Knave but it’s either used ironically by someone who is aware that it is an archaism, or ostentatiously by someone who thinks it will impress others.
Bob:
October 2nd, 2019 at 2:10 pm
Thanks. I was thinking King, Queen, “Jack”?
“Why not Prince? Is Jack an archaic synonym for Prince?”
I never thought of servant. Your explanation is convincing. I hope it’s also correct.