Reading through An Heraldic Alphabet (J.P. Brooke-Little) I’ve come across this explanation; "Special terms are used for certain forms of semy: thus when a field or charge is semy of bezants it is blazoned ‘bezanty’; of billets ‘billety’; of cross crosslets (fitchy) ‘cruisiey (fitchy): of fleurs-de-lis ‘semy-de-lis’: of gouttes ‘goutty’ and of plates ‘platy’.
My arms are blazoned ‘Sanguine semy of nails Or’ and I’m perfectly happy with this. Still, out of curiosity, I’m wondering if I could blazon them ‘Sanguine naily Or’ without upsetting several apple carts and bringing down the wrath of heaven. I could think of several reasons not to ...
a) as far as I can tell, it would set a precedence.
b) no one would know what on earth I’m talking about.
c) Richard, stop trying to be clever - you’re not ..... :mullet:
d) All of the above
See James Dempster’s comment on obscure and irrelevant distinctions in the cinematic heraldry thread.
In that light, what you propose is only permissible if you derive your new term from French, preferably bad medieval French. Something like Gules clouée Or, or better yet Gules onglée Or.
Explanation: French has two words for "nail." The metal pointed thing that you hammer is a clou. The thing at the end of your finger that you try not to hammer is an ongle.
By the way, to revive an old, old issue on which I am repeatedly shouted down, why should we not simply blazon Richard’s arms as "Red strewn with golden nails"?
Sounds like a "heraldry police" issue. The objective of "blason" is the shortest description which will clearly and corretly convey the design. "Nailly" could assist in doing that. Not everything in blason MUST be in bad French or Olde English. Sometimes a simple development in modern language is an improvement.
Joseph McMillan;93889 wrote:
By the way, to revive an old, old issue on which I am repeatedly shouted down, why should we not simply blazon Richard’s arms as "Red strewn with golden nails"?
Or, excuse me, rather "Blood-red strewn with golden nails." (Which, by the way, illustrates my objection to the notion of "sanguine.")
Joseph McMillan;93891 wrote:
Or, excuse me, rather "Blood-red strewn with golden nails." (Which, by the way, illustrates my objection to the notion of "sanguine.")
Gladly share your Sanguine-related objections but cannot catch what is wrong with Gules
My test is to imagine a chior of monks chanting the various options…
"Sanguine, semy of nails Or" wins. :D
Richard’s nails have been very carefully laid out rather than the effect of "strewn" I would imagine, which has a greater randomness - scattered, sprinkled if you will. "Semé" is pretty much translated as "sown" which can be done by random scattering but can be done using drills. The artist wants the liberty to paint as best suits any charges and balance in the arms and the pedant blazoner wants precision. I favour "sown" and then leave it to the artist.
Michael Y. Medvedev;93894 wrote:
Gladly share your Sanguine-related objections but cannot catch what is wrong with Gules
Nothing in particular, other than that no one other than a herald knows what it means.
I agree with Derek that strewn and semy allow the artist confidence for greatest amount of leeway without having to wonder on the exactness of number or placement. This of course, ignoring the debate of cloth-cut style vs. medieval style (complete charges).
I’m currently doing Richard’s shield in medieval style with seven of the charges arranged in two chevrons and the extra in base.
In other cases, I might choose to use cloth-cut style, especially if there is a single animal charge over a commonly known and easily recognized semy charge (depends greatly on the shield shape as well for me).
Jeffrey Boyd Garrison;93895 wrote:
My test is to imagine a chior of monks chanting the various options…
"Sanguine, semy of nails Or" wins. :D
My test is whether it scans as iambic pentameter. Shakespeare could have written "A blood-red ‘scutcheon strewn with golden nails."
(Or, "On gold a lion striding black as pitch/beneath three stars of azure, silver filled/and in the base some water in a ditch.")
Joseph McMillan;93904 wrote:
My test is whether it scans as iambic pentameter. Shakespeare could have written "A blood-red ‘scutcheon strewn with golden nails."
(Or, "On gold a lion striding black as pitch/beneath three stars of azure, silver filled/and in the base some water in a ditch.")
Hahaha, brilliant! :animlol:
The blazon of my arms includes "clouy," which means that the charges named (in my case, hinge straps) are shown as nailed to the shield. This means that only the heads of the nails are visible. "Clouy" woudn’t work for Globe arms.
Joseph McMillan;93904 wrote:
My test is whether it scans as iambic pentameter. Shakespeare could have written "A blood-red ‘scutcheon strewn with golden nails."
(Or, "On gold a lion striding black as pitch/beneath three stars of azure, silver filled/and in the base some water in a ditch.")
Wow. Next year my students will be reading Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, and The Tempest, among others. I’m going to offer them extra credit to describe some arms in iambic pentameter!
Joseph McMillan;93904 wrote:
My test is whether it scans as iambic pentameter. Shakespeare could have written "A blood-red ‘scutcheon strewn with golden nails."
(Or, "On gold a lion striding black as pitch/beneath three stars of azure, silver filled/and in the base some water in a ditch.")
Damn that’s impressive!