The card game Solitaire likely originated from cartomancy or tarot as an early form of fortune telling due to how cards are laid out in both practices. However, this was a different game as it used pegs instead of cards.
One of the first documented references to the word 'solitaire' was in a 17th-century engraving featuring Anne-Joulie de Rohan-Chabot, Princess Soubise, playing solitaire. The origins of the game are a little hazy. The game involves arranging a shuffled deck of cards into a specified order or tableau, no matter the variation. Solitaire is the collective term for hundreds of card games and activities requiring only one person.
