Theroco wind: a valuable new essay by Andrea Vitali

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Andrea recently posted on LeTarot a valuable new essay now available in both Italian and English, "Theroco Wind: The Wind that leads to madness (16th century)" (http://www.associazioneletarot.it/page.aspx?id=399, http://www.associazioneletarot.it/page. ... 99&lng=ENG). It features a 16th century Venetian document with much word-play, among which the term "theroco" is associated with the wind from the south, the "scirocho" (sirocco), as a traditional bringer of madness, and also with some crazy actions on the part of Cordovan troops and a Carmelite gardener. The same document mentions "el bagatella el mato", apparently as a way of distancing himself from trifles and nonsense. However the sentences in which these words appear have many obscure elements (apparently not nonsensical trifles), as indeed does the whole document.

I find this word "theroco" of interest in relation to speculations I have advanced (which some might call crazy), about the origin of the word "tarocco", both for its association to frenetic madness and its use of "th" rather than "t". Andrea graciously allowed me a short summary of these ideas in footnote 5.