[Ansteorra] Ok...so I'm a dummy

[Jay Rudin]

Annes asked:

>How does one correctly spell the heraldic term for "nonarmigous" meaning an
>award given to an individual which carries no precedence and generally is
>not recorded in the OP?

WARNING: Below you will find more than you ever wanted to know about this.  You Have Been Warned.

I'm not sure whether this is an heraldic question confused due to the linguistics involved, or a linguistic question confused because of the heraldic issues involved.

First, let's separate two different categories.  There are the official awards (and one order) that do not carry arms.  The Sable Falcon, Queen's Rapier, King's Archer, etc., (and the Lion), and are usually called "non-armigerous".

Then there are the things that groups set up to reward people outside of the SCA's structure -- the Black Shield, plus many local gifts.  These are usually called "unofficial awards".

And both terms are somewhat incorrect.  According to the OED, "armigerous" describes a person, not an award, and means "entitled to bear arms".  If there is a term to separate honors that put people into this class and honors that don't put people into this class, I haven't found it.  Still, "armigerous" to describe an award that makes its recipient armigerous is not that big a stretch of its original meaning, and we don't have a better one.

The phrase "unofficial awards" conjures up the idea of an award in the special category of "unofficial", which is not quite accurate.  From the point of view of the corporation, an award is defined in Corpora, and these don't fit the description.  They aren't really awards at all, officially.  So "unofficial award" remains the term, but we must remember that from an SCA standpoint, that means something that isn't really an award, as an unfrocked priest isn't a priest, and a forged Caravaggio isn't a Caravaggio.

(One senior herald from another kingdom has told me that Ansteorra's practice of using unofficial awards is illegal, because it doesn't follow the requirements of an award in Corpora.  That's not a completely invalid position.  If the BoD chose to intervene, they could tell us we couldn't do it.  If that happened, we would start giving them out as "gifts", probably after calling the populace to silence and before opening court.)

Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin, obscure but not obsolete

________________________________________
PeoplePC Online
A better way to Internet
http://www.peoplepc.com