Playing the fool

Posted by ESC June 20, 2010 at 00:30In reply to Playing the fool posted by Victoria S Dennis on June 19, 2010 at 23:19:

In watching the TV show The Tudors I came across a surprising moment. Henry criticized his motley for a poor play at cards. The error was having "played the Fool" as in The Fool card of the Tarot deck. What game were they playing? and...

Did the Play the Fool phrase originate with card play?
Anybody?

The original use of the tarot pack was for games-playing, not divination, and the game of tarot/tarock/tarocco is still played in many countries of Central Europe. Click on this link for a description of the game:
en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Tarot,_tarock_and_tarocchi_games.
There is no connection with the phrase, however. To "play the fool" means "to act the fool" - "player" in the 16th century being a synonym for "actor". (VSD)

I found the expression in the Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. But there was no explanation/origin.