As usual, Phil’s drawing is first-rate. I’m not positive I prefer this to passant. Any thoughts? I think we’re just about there!
Okay, Fred, here’s the passant:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/pblanton/Greyhound4.jpg
Take care,
At the end of the day, Philip, I think your judgment is dead-on. I’m interested to hear what others think, but the basic design, a greyhound rampant (?) holding the mullet, looks more dynamic than the greyhound passant resting a paw on the mullet. Can we put the crest together with the shield? I think I’m ready to move on to the refrigerator test. Meanwhile, I would be interested to hear from our most fastidious associates about the design.
(I keep trying to see a place for a heart or hearts in there, but it’s not coming. I might have to miss the opportunity for a heraldic rebus on "Jolicoeur," alas.)
I like the Latin, "Sequor meliora," which I take to mean "I pursue better things," but if I understand correctly, that’s expressing it in the first person, which could sound awfully pompous. How might I say something more akin to the imperative, "Pursue higher things"?
fwhite;49894 wrote:
the basic design, a greyhound rampant (?) holding the mullet, looks more dynamic than the greyhound passant resting a paw on the mullet.
I think that a greyhound salient Proper, ducaly gorged Or, holding a mullet Sable, would be the best form for a greyhound. A greyhound rampant seems rather silly to me.
fwhite;49895 wrote:
I like the Latin, "Sequor meliora," which I take to mean "I pursue better things," but if I understand correctly, that’s expressing it in the first person, which could sound awfully pompous. How might I say something more akin to the imperative, "Pursue higher things"?
To me this motto translates more correctly to I follow better things. I did not find this motto listed in Elvin’s Mottoes Revised which to me is something greatly in its favour. Why do we so often bother to create unique heraldry and then attach an unoriginal motto to it? It is rather like wearing a new handmade suit with scruffy second hand shoes.
fwhite;49895 wrote:
I like the Latin, "Sequor meliora," which I take to mean "I pursue better things," but if I understand correctly, that’s expressing it in the first person, which could sound awfully pompous. How might I say something more akin to the imperative, "Pursue higher things"?
David’s translation of "I follow better things" is perhaps the more standard reading, but sequi is sometimes better translated as pursue. When you thing about it, there isn’t that much different in meaning between follow and pursue. Another very similar verb you make consider is persequi, which conveys a neverendingness to the action. It doesn’t translate too cleanly into English, but the phrases "to pursue to the end" or "to follow constantly" convey a similar thought.
Sequor is 1st person singular of the verb sequi. Sequere is the 2nd person singular imperative, and sequimini is the plural. In case you don’t know the difference, 2nd sing. imp. is "You follow" and 2nd plur. imp. is "You all follow."
Dcgb7f;49900 wrote:
When you think about it, there isn’t that much different in meaning between follow and pursue.
I see a great difference between these two verbs. The related nouns illustrate the difference between the two verbs very effectively in that having followers is viewed for the most part as a positive situation and that having pursuers is rarely a good thing if it is ever at all.
David Pritchard;49897 wrote:
To me this motto translates more correctly to I follow better things. I did not find this motto listed in Elvin’s Mottoes Revised which to me is something greatly in its favour. Why do we so often bother to create unique heraldry and then attach an unoriginal motto to it? It is rather like wearing a new handmade suit with scruffy second hand shoes.
I agree. It’s worth mentioning, however, that the motto of Hotchkiss School in Connecticut is quite close to this: Moniti meliora sequamur—"Having been instructed, let us pursue higher things." It’s said on the school website to come from Virgil’s Aeneid.
Perhaps you can work in an allusion to Jolicoeur through the motto, with the same basic thought as following better things? How about this passage from Ps. 90 (89): 12: "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom (Ut numerentur dies nostri sic ostende et veniemus corde sapienti)."
Perhaps one of our Latin scholars could cut this back to "That we may apply our hearts to wisdom" or "Let us apply our hearts to wisdom" or even "To apply our hearts to wisdom."
David Pritchard;49902 wrote:
I see a great difference between these two verbs. The related nouns illustrate the difference between the two verbs very effectively in that having followers is viewed for the most part as a positive situation and that having pursuers is rarely a good thing if it is ever at all.
But if you’re a herald, it’s a very good thing to have pursuivants to carry the heavy bags and do the dirty work. Same root.
David Pritchard;49902 wrote:
I see a great difference between these two verbs. The related nouns illustrate the difference between the two verbs very effectively in that having followers is viewed for the most part as a positive situation and that having pursuers is rarely a good thing if it is ever at all.
In the sense Fred is using the word, the difference is minimal. To pursue an object and to follow an object are for the most part the same action. The nuance that one is with a bit more interest, as well as the one you point out with the related nouns, is a later developement given to the words. Pursue and follow in the languages in which they originate both mean to follow. You can see a similar situation with the words anger, wrath, and ire, which all originate from difference languages, originally meant anger, and only later developed nuanced meanings.
The risk of partial motto usurpation notwithstanding, it sounds like "Meliora sequamur" would be the way to communicate the tone I’m after—exhortation to myself and others, rather than a potentially pompous-sounding claim about myself.
Well if you looking for potentially pompous-sounding mottos ask Fr. Guy about his first motto or about how mine can be read to say "Here, I am Lord."
fwhite wrote:
Can we put the crest together with the shield? I think I’m ready to move on to the refrigerator test.
Okay, you asked for it. Here are six prospects. Two passant, two rampant, and two demi-dogs. Each pair includes one with mullet and one with mullet pierced of a heart. Enjoy….
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/pblanton/White-7.jpg http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/pblanton/White-8.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/pblanton/White-9.jpg http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/pblanton/White-10.jpg
and….
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/pblanton/White-11.jpg http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/pblanton/White-12.jpg
Hope you likey! :D
Take care,
