Canting arms
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Canting arms are heraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name (or, less often, some attribute or function) in a visual pun or rebus.
The expression derives from the latin cantare (to sing). French heralds used the term armes parlantes (English: "talking arms"), as they would sound out the name of the armiger. Many armorial allusions require research for elucidation because of changes in language and dialect that have occurred over the past millennium.
Canting arms – some in the form of rebuses – are quite common in German civic heraldry. They have also been increasingly used in the 20th century among the British royal family.[citation needed] When the visual representation is expressed through a rebus, this is sometimes called a rebus coat of arms.[citation needed] An in-joke among the Society for Creative Anachronism heralds is the pun, "Heralds don't pun; they cant."[2]
Examples of canting arms
[edit]Personal coats of arms
[edit]A famous example of canting arms are those of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's paternal family, the Bowes-Lyon family. The arms (pictured below) contain the bows and blue lions that make up the arms of the Bowes and Lyon families.
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Princess Beatrice of York: Beatrice = bee thrice = three bees
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Rosetti family: three roses
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Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone: three hog's heads
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De Barry family: three bars gemelles
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Flag of Maryland, originally the arms of George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, whose mother's maiden name was Crossland; the latter's arms shows a cross.[3]
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Theodore Roosevelt: roses-fields
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Maus family: a mouse in the first and fourth quarters.
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Anthony Rota: rota means "wheel" in Latin
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Arms of the Campdavaine branch of the counts of Saint-Pol: a sheaf of oats (Camp d'avaine means field of oats in that family's Picard language [Champ d'avoine in Paris French]).
Municipal coats of arms
[edit]Municipal coats of arms which interpret the town's name in rebus form are also called canting. Here are a few examples.
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Elmbridge, Surrey (1974): elm tree on bridge. (The toponym is related to bridges but not to elms; the prefix refers to Emel, a former name for the river Mole.[4])
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Châteaurenard: Château = castle; Renard = fox
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Eberbach (1976): Eber = boar; Bach = brook (wavy blue fess)
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The coat of arms of the village of Hensbroek in North Holland interprets the toponym as "hen-breeches" (the toponym is unrelated to either "hen" or "breeches", deriving from the personal name Hein and the Dutch cognate of "brook", i.e. "Henry's brook".)
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Freixo de Espada à Cinta (1926): Freixo = ash (tree); de Espada = with sword; à Cinta = at the waist, in Portuguese
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Falkenberg (1948): Falken = falcon; Berg = hill, in Swedish
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Arms of Kontiolahti featuring a bear (kontio in Finnish), carrying a log driving pike pole referring to the importance of forestry in the region's economy[5]
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Berlin (1954): Bär = bear
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City and canton of Bern: Bär = Bear
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Torrevieja (1829): Torre = tower, vieja = old
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Kryvyi Rih: Kryvyi = crooked, Rih = horn, in Ukrainian
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Łódź: Łódź = boat
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Wolfsburg: Wolf's Castle
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Örnsköldsvik (1894): Örn = Eagle, Sköld = Shield and Vik = Bay.
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Füssen: Füße = feet
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Schaffhausen: Schaf = sheep, Haus = house
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Steinhaus: Stein = stone, Haus = house
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Schattendorf: Schatten = shadow, Dorf = village
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Hadersdorf-Kammern: Hader = quarrel, Dorf = village
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The arms of Dornbirn feature pears, Birn in German
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The arms of Kotka feature an eagle (kotka in Finnish)
Ecclesiastical coats of arms
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The arms of the Diocese of Lansing: The lances crossed per saltire are a play on the name of the see, the city of Lansing, Michigan.[7]
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The arms of the Diocese of Rockville Centre: The mounds in the circle at the center of the arms are a play on the name of city in which the diocese is based, Rockville Centre, New York.[8]
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The arms of the Diocese of Baton Rouge: The shield features a red baton, referencing the city name, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and its literal French meaning.
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The arms of the Diocese of Buffalo: The arms feature an American bison, colloquially called a buffalo, carrying a banner of the Cross of St. George (analogous to the heraldic Lamb of God), referencing the name of city in which the see is based, Buffalo, New York.
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The arms of the Diocese of Brownsville: The tincture of the field, tenné, is depicted as brown, referencing the seat of the diocese, Brownsville, Texas.
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The arms of the Diocese of Phoenix: The arms feature a phoenix, the namesake of the diocesan seat, Phoenix, Arizona.
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The arms of the Diocese of Fort Worth: The arms feature a castle, referencing the fort for which the city, Fort Worth, Texas, was named.
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The arms of the Archdiocese of Anchorage: The anchor references the namesake of the see, Anchorage, Alaska.
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The arms of the Archdiocese of Hartford: The arms feature a hart, a male deer, in the midst of flowing water, i.e., fording a body of water, referencing the name of the see, Hartford, Connecticut.
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The arms of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles: The arms feature three pairs of wings, denoting three angels, and referencing the namesake of the see, Los Angeles, California, which translates to "the angels."
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ "Tinctures". www.heraldica.org.
- ^ Neznanich, Modar. "Heraldry for Those Who Cant" (PDF). Retrieved 2 July 2012. Cites 72 historical examples of canting arms, as well as SCA usage.
- ^ Englefield, Eric (1979). Flags. Ward Lock. p. 104.
- ^ Room, Adrian (1988). Dictionary Of Place Names In The British Isles. Bloomsbury. p. 128. ISBN 9780747501701.
- ^ Suomen kunnallisvaakunat (in Finnish). Suomen Kunnallisliitto. 1982. p. 139. ISBN 951-773-085-3.
- ^ Schneider, Klaus-Michael. "Municipality of Manacor". Flags of the World. CRW Flags. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
- ^ "Bishop Boyea arms". Diocese of Lansing. Roman Catholic Diocese of Lansing. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
- ^ "Bishop Barres arms". Diocese of Rockville Centre. Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre. Archived from the original on 27 July 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
Sources
[edit]- Winifred Hall: Canting and Allusive Arms of England and Wales. 1966. ISBN 9780900023019
References
[edit]- "Meaning of Arms". Heraldica.org. 2001-06-20.
External links
[edit]- Canting arms (Britannica)
- Canting arms – 100 armes parlantes (YouTube)