Gules

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Dr. Goodword
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Gules

Postby Dr. Goodword » Mon May 15, 2023 7:28 pm

• gules •


Pronunciation: gyulz • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: The color red used mostly in heraldry and blazonry (coats of arms); poetic elsewhere.

Notes: The world of heraldry has its own vocabulary, chequy for checkered, argent for silver, dexter and sinister for right and left. Today's word comes from that world. The singular noun, gule "throat, gluttony, column neck" has long since fallen into disuse, leaving the plural form a lexical orphan.

In Play: This word is rarely used outside the world of heraldry: "The coat of arms of Croatia, chequy gules and argent, is a well-known example of red and white chequy." When used as an adjective, it is usually placed after the noun it modifies (postpositioned): "Above the mantle of the royal family's coat of arms is a pavilion gules topped with the royal crown."

Word History: Today's Good Word was borrowed from Old French geule "mouth, throat", today gueule "(animal) mouth, muzzle", probably because the open mouth and throat of animals are red on coats of arms. Old French inherited its word from Latin gula "throat, gullet", which is the current word for "gluttony" in Portuguese and Spanish. The Latin word was passed down from PIE gel-/gol- "to devour", source also of Greek glossa "tongue; language", Armenian kul "swallow", English gulp, gulch and gully, German Kolk "gulley", Russian glotat' "swallow" and gorlo "throat", Czech hlt "swallow, gulp", Serbian grlo "throat", Polish gardło "throat". (Now a bow of gratitude for Wordmaster Rob Towart for finding today's Good Word in a dark niche of the English vocabulary and revealing it to us.)
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bbeeton
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Re: Gules

Postby bbeeton » Mon May 15, 2023 8:26 pm

While dipping into heraldry, it might be interesting to extend this into vexillology, the study of flags. That can expand into lots of fascinating terms with intriguing histories. My favorite banner is the state flag of Maryland, where I grew up, which sports the colors in quadrants of or and sable, and gules and argent. On camping trips, my Girl Scout (Ranger) troop used to have great fun checking the flags flying at state parks where we camped, to find flags that were flying upside down; it happened more than once.

Actually, vexillology has been suggested before, in 2011, but not adopted at the time.


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