The Sanas (etymology) of Faro

[Grant Barrett]

> no evidence of Pharaoh face cards in 17th, 18th, or 19th centuries has
> ever been documented.(2)

I'd add: nor has "fiar araon" as the origin of "Faro." You've discussed
the presence of Irish and gambling in New Orleans and France in some
detail, but then, the French were in both places, too. At least we have
written citations of "Pharoah" as the name of a card game in the 18th
century. Let's see "fiar araon" in print anywhere as a name for the
card game prior to 1735-39, then we're on to something.

Or maybe we could compromise and also pin this one on Wolof.

Also, your footnotes are missing.

Grant Barrett
(descendant of three strains of Irish but four strains of empiricist)

PS: Here is an informative post on the high "probability of chance
resemblance among languages":
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001511.html