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==Terms of venery (words for groups of animals)== |
==Terms of venery (words for groups of animals)== |
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{{see|List of collective nouns|List of collective nouns for birds}} |
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The tradition of using collective nouns that are specific to certain kinds of animals stems from an English [[Medieval hunting|Medieval]] [[hunting]] tradition, dating back to at least the fifteenth century. Terms of [[Wiktionary:venery|venery]] <ref>{{cite book |title= An Exaltation of Larks: The Ultimate Edition |last= Lipton |first= James |authorlink= James Lipton |year= 1993 |publisher= [[Penguin Books]]|location= USA |isbn= 0 14 01.7096 0 |pages= 5–7 }}</ref> or nouns of assembly were used by gentlemen to distinguish themselves from yeomen and others and formed part of their education. Only a few of the terms were for groups of animals; others, such as "singular" for boars, described their characteristics or habits of life. "Singular" may also be a corruption of the French ("sanglier"). Misunderstandings over the centuries led to all the terms being regarded as collective nouns and some became unrecognisable through changes to the language and [[transcription error]]s: "besynys" (for ferrets) became "fesynes" instead of "busy-ness". |
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The tradition of using collective nouns that are specific to certain kinds of animals stems from an [[Kingdom of England|English]] [[Medieval hunting|hunting tradition]] of the [[Late Middle Ages]]. |
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The fashion of a consciously developed hunting language came to England from [[medieval France|France]]. It is marked by an extensive proliferation of specialist vocabulary, applying different names to the same feature in different animals. |
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These elements can be shown to have already been part of French and English hunting terminology by the beginning of the 14th century. In the course of the 14th century, it became a courtly fashion to extend the vocabulary, and by the 15th century, this tendency had reached exaggerated proportions. |
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The ''Venerie'' of Twiti (early 14th century) distinguished three types of droppings of animals, and three different terms for herds of animals. [[Gaston Phoebus]] (14th c.) had five terms for droppings of animals, which were extended to seven in the ''Master of the Game'' (early 15th century). The focus on collective terms for groups of animals emerges in the later 15th century. Thus, a list of collective nouns in Egerton MS 1995, dated to ca. 1452. |
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Under the heading of ''termis of venery &c.'' extends to 70 items,<ref>David Dalby, ''Lexicon of the Mediaeval German Hunt: A Lexicon of Middle High German Terms (1050-1500), Associated with the Chase, Hunting with Bows, Falconry, Trapping and Fowling'', Walter de Gruyter, 1965, ISBN 9783110818604, p. xli.</ref> and the list in the ''[[Book of Saint Albans]]'' (1486) runs to 165 items, many of which, even though introduced by introduced ''the compaynys of beestys and fowlys'', do not relate to venery but to human groups and professions and are clearly humorous. (''Doctryne of doctoris, a Sentence of Juges, a Fightyng of beggers, an uncredibilite of Cocoldis, a Melody of harpers, a Gagle of wome, a Disworship of Scottis'' etc.)<ref>1901 facsimile reprint, E. Stock, London ([http://archive.org/stream/bokeofsaintalban00bernuoft#page/114/mode/2up pp. 115-117).</ref> |
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<ref>Transactions of the Philological Society |
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Volume 26, Issue 3, pages 79–175, August 1909 |
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</ref> |
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The ''Book of Saint Albans'' became very popular during the 16th century and it was reprinted frequently. [[Gervase Markham]] edited it as ''The Gentleman's Academic'' in 1595. |
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Sometimes a term of venery will apply to a group only in a certain context. "Herd" can properly refer to a group of wild horses, but not to a group of domestic horses.{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}} A "paddling of ducks" only refers to ducks on water. A group of geese on the ground is referred to as a "gaggle of geese" while a "skein of geese" would refer to them in flight. |
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The book's popularity had the effect of perpetuating many of these terms as part of the [[Standard English]] lexicon, even though they have long ceased to have any practical application.<ref name=Todd&Hancock>{{cite book | last = Todd | first = Loreto | coauthor = Hancock, Ian | year = 1986 | title = International English Usage | publisher = Psychology Press | pages = 133–134 | isbn = 0415051029 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=iccd5KAUnYQC&pg=PA133 | accessdate = 2011-04-04}}</ref> |
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[[Arthur Conan Doyle]] in ''[[Sir Nigel]]'' (1906), set in the mid-14th century, depicts the medieval tradition of venery. |
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Usage authorities have said that the lesser-known words of this type are not needed for practical purposes<ref name=Todd&Hancock>{{cite book | last = Todd | first = Loreto | coauthor = Hancock, Ian | year = 1986 | title = International English Usage | publisher = Psychology Press | pages = 133–134 | isbn = 0415051029 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=iccd5KAUnYQC&pg=PA133 | accessdate = 2011-04-04}}</ref> and that some are "the result of light-hearted creativity rather than observation"<ref name=Todd&Hancock/> or "facetious".<ref>{{cite book | last = Harris | first = Theodore L. | coauthor = Hodges, Richard E. | year = 1995 | publisher = International Reading Association | page = 271 | isbn = 0872071383 | accessdate = 2011-04-04}}</ref> Nevertheless there is still interest in collective nouns, and the [[neologism|coining]] of candidate collective nouns has been a (usually humorous) pastime of many writers, including nouns pertaining to things other than animals, such as professions, e.g. a "sequitur of logicians". |
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The [[Nele Loring|novel's protagonist]] in chapter 11 is instructed that "for every collection of beasts in the forest, and for every gathering of birds in the air, there is their own private name so that none may be confused with another." The speaker reports that the chief huntsman of the [[Odo IV, Duke of Burgundy|duke of Burgundy]] was supposed to have been able to list more than a hundred such terms, but suspects that he had been making them up as he went along, as "there was none to say him nay". |
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The examples presented in the novel are: |
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Most recently, one author of a [[computer]] book invented some obviously joking collective nouns which systems developers could relate to, including a "bleat" of users; a "retreat" of consultants; and a "trough" of salespersons. |
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"a cete of badgers", "a skulk of foxes", "a pride of lions", "a singular of boars", "a sounder of swine", "a nye of pheasants", "a gaggle of geese", "a badling of ducks", "a fall of woodcocks" and "a wisp of snipe". |
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- who and which book? ~~~ --> |
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Even in their original context of medieval venery, the terms were of the nature of [[kenning]]s, intended as a mark of erudition of the gentlemen able to use them correctly rather than for practical communication. Over time, their use has become a matter of |
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"light-hearted creativity rather than observation"<ref name=Todd&Hancock/> or "facetious",<ref>{{cite book | last = Harris | first = Theodore L. | coauthor = Hodges, Richard E. | year = 1995 | publisher = International Reading Association | page = 271 | isbn = 0872071383 | accessdate = 2011-04-04}}</ref> |
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== See also == |
== See also == |
Revision as of 13:59, 6 April 2012
In linguistics, a collective noun is a word used to define a group of objects, where objects can be people, animals, emotions, inanimate things, concepts, or other things. For example, in the phrase "a pride of lions", pride is a collective noun.
Most collective nouns encountered in everyday speech, such as "group", are mundane and are not specific to one kind of constituent object. For example, the terms "group of people", "group of dogs", and "group of ideas" are all correct uses. Others, especially words belonging to the large subset of collective nouns known as terms of venery (words for groups of animals), are specific to one kind of constituent object. For example, "pride" as a term of venery refers to lions, but not to dogs or llamas.
Collective nouns should not be confused with mass nouns, or with the collective grammatical number.
Derivational collectives
Derivation accounts for many collective words. Because derivation is a slower and less productive word formation process than the more overtly syntactical morphological methods, there are fewer collectives formed this way. As with all derived words, derivational collectives often differ semantically from the original words, acquiring new connotations and even new denotations.
The English endings -age and -ade often signify a collective. Sometimes the relationship is easily recognizable: baggage, drainage, blockade. However, even though the etymology is plain to see, the derived words take on quite a special meaning.
German uses the prefix Ge- to create collectives. The root word often undergoes umlaut and suffixation as well as receiving the Ge- prefix. Nearly all nouns created in this way are of neuter gender. Examples include:
- das Gebirge, "group of mountains", from der Berg, "mountain"
- das Gepäck, "luggage, baggage" from der Pack, "pack, bundle, pile"
- das Geflügel, "poultry, fowl (birds)" from late MHG gevlügel(e), under the influence of der Flügel, "wing", from MHG gevügel, from OHG gifugili = collective formation, from fogal, "bird"
- das Gefieder, "plumage" from die Feder, "feather"
In Swedish one example is the different words for mosquitos in the collective form and in the individual form:
Metonymic merging of grammatical number
Two good examples of collective nouns are "team" and "government", which are both words referring to groups of (usually) people. Both "team" and "government" are count nouns. (Consider: "one team", "two teams", "most teams"; "one government", "two governments", "many governments"). However, confusion often stems from the fact that plural verb forms are often used in British English with the singular forms of these count nouns (for example: "The team have finished the project."). Conversely, in the English language as a whole, singular verb forms can often be used with nouns ending in "-s" that were once considered plural (for example: "Physics is my favorite academic subject"). This apparent "number mismatch" is actually a quite natural and logical feature of human language, and its mechanism is a subtle metonymic shift in the thoughts underlying the words.
In British English, it is generally accepted that collective nouns can take either singular or plural verb forms depending on the context and the metonymic shift that it implies. For example, "the team is in the dressing room" (formal agreement) refers to the team as an ensemble, whilst "the team are fighting among themselves" (notional agreement) refers to the team as individuals. This is also British English practice with names of countries and cities in sports contexts; for example, "Germany have won the competition.", "Madrid have lost three consecutive matches.", etc. In American English, collective nouns almost invariably take singular verb forms (formal agreement). In cases where a metonymic shift would be otherwise revealed nearby, the whole sentence may be recast to avoid the metonymy. (For example, "The team are fighting among themselves" may become "the team members are fighting among themselves" or simply "The team is fighting.") See American and British English differences - Formal and notional agreement.
A good example of such a metonymic shift in the singular-to-plural direction (which, generally speaking, only occurs in British English) is the following sentence: "The team have finished the project." In that sentence, the underlying thought is of the individual members of the team working together to finish the project. Their accomplishment is collective, and the emphasis is not on their individual identities, yet they are at the same time still discrete individuals; the word choice "team have" manages to convey both their collective and discrete identities simultaneously. A good example of such a metonymic shift in the plural-to-singular direction is the following sentence: "Mathematics is my favorite academic subject." The word "mathematics" may have originally been plural in concept, referring to mathematic endeavors, but metonymic shift—that is, the shift in concept from "the endeavors" to "the whole set of endeavors"—produced the usage of "mathematics" as a singular entity taking singular verb forms. (A true mass-noun sense of "mathematics" followed naturally.)
Nominally singular pronouns can be collective nouns taking plural verbs, according to the same rules that apply to other collective nouns. For example, it is correct British English or American English usage to say: "None are so fallible as those who are sure they're right." In this case, the plural verb is used because the context for "none" suggests more than one thing or person.[1]
Terms of venery (words for groups of animals)
The tradition of using collective nouns that are specific to certain kinds of animals stems from an English hunting tradition of the Late Middle Ages. The fashion of a consciously developed hunting language came to England from France. It is marked by an extensive proliferation of specialist vocabulary, applying different names to the same feature in different animals. These elements can be shown to have already been part of French and English hunting terminology by the beginning of the 14th century. In the course of the 14th century, it became a courtly fashion to extend the vocabulary, and by the 15th century, this tendency had reached exaggerated proportions. The Venerie of Twiti (early 14th century) distinguished three types of droppings of animals, and three different terms for herds of animals. Gaston Phoebus (14th c.) had five terms for droppings of animals, which were extended to seven in the Master of the Game (early 15th century). The focus on collective terms for groups of animals emerges in the later 15th century. Thus, a list of collective nouns in Egerton MS 1995, dated to ca. 1452. Under the heading of termis of venery &c. extends to 70 items,[2] and the list in the Book of Saint Albans (1486) runs to 165 items, many of which, even though introduced by introduced the compaynys of beestys and fowlys, do not relate to venery but to human groups and professions and are clearly humorous. (Doctryne of doctoris, a Sentence of Juges, a Fightyng of beggers, an uncredibilite of Cocoldis, a Melody of harpers, a Gagle of wome, a Disworship of Scottis etc.)[3] [4]
The Book of Saint Albans became very popular during the 16th century and it was reprinted frequently. Gervase Markham edited it as The Gentleman's Academic in 1595. The book's popularity had the effect of perpetuating many of these terms as part of the Standard English lexicon, even though they have long ceased to have any practical application.[5]
Arthur Conan Doyle in Sir Nigel (1906), set in the mid-14th century, depicts the medieval tradition of venery. The novel's protagonist in chapter 11 is instructed that "for every collection of beasts in the forest, and for every gathering of birds in the air, there is their own private name so that none may be confused with another." The speaker reports that the chief huntsman of the duke of Burgundy was supposed to have been able to list more than a hundred such terms, but suspects that he had been making them up as he went along, as "there was none to say him nay". The examples presented in the novel are: "a cete of badgers", "a skulk of foxes", "a pride of lions", "a singular of boars", "a sounder of swine", "a nye of pheasants", "a gaggle of geese", "a badling of ducks", "a fall of woodcocks" and "a wisp of snipe".
Even in their original context of medieval venery, the terms were of the nature of kennings, intended as a mark of erudition of the gentlemen able to use them correctly rather than for practical communication. Over time, their use has become a matter of "light-hearted creativity rather than observation"[5] or "facetious",[6]
See also
Linguistics concepts
Lists
- List of collective nouns for all subjects
- List of animal names, including names for groups
- List of collective nouns for birds
English language
Interdisciplinary
References
- ^ Strunk & White, The Elements of Style (4th ed., 2000), p. 10.
- ^ David Dalby, Lexicon of the Mediaeval German Hunt: A Lexicon of Middle High German Terms (1050-1500), Associated with the Chase, Hunting with Bows, Falconry, Trapping and Fowling, Walter de Gruyter, 1965, ISBN 9783110818604, p. xli.
- ^ 1901 facsimile reprint, E. Stock, London ([http://archive.org/stream/bokeofsaintalban00bernuoft#page/114/mode/2up pp. 115-117).
- ^ Transactions of the Philological Society Volume 26, Issue 3, pages 79–175, August 1909
- ^ a b Todd, Loreto (1986). International English Usage. Psychology Press. pp. 133–134. ISBN 0415051029. Retrieved 2011-04-04.
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- Hodgkin, John. Proper Terms: An attempt at a rational explanation of the meanings of the Collection of Phrases in "The Book of St Albans", 1486, entitled "The Compaynys of beestys and fowlys" and similar lists., Transactions of the Philological Society 1907-1910 Part III, pp 1 – 187, Kegan, Paul, Trench & Trübner & Co, Ltd, London, 1909.
- Shulman, Alon. A Mess of Iguanas... A Whoop of Gorillas: An Amazement of Animal Facts. Penguin. (First published Penguin 2009.) ISBN 9781846142550.
- Lipton, James. An Exaltation of Larks, or The "Veneral" Game. Penguin. (First published Grossman Publishers 1968.) (Penguin first reprint 1977 ISBN 0140045368); in 1993 it was republished in Penguin with The Ultimate Edition as part of the title with the ISBN 0140170960 Hardcover Paperback
- PatrickGeorge. A filth of starlings. PatrickGeorge. (First published PatrickGeorge 2009.) ISBN 9780956255815.
- PatrickGeorge. A drove of bullocks. PatrickGeorge. (First published PatrickGeorge 2009.) ISBN 9780956255808.