ANSTHRLD - Bovines strike again!

[Kathleen O'Brien]

At 09:25 AM 5/6/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Cow Wars; The Bovine Strikes Back; Return of the Jersey

So, is The Phantom Couhird (to use a 1332 spelling) debuting at theatres on
the 19th?

>Sorry... 
>
>You may recall that I asked the list about the feasibility of a houehold
name 
>(House of the Meandering Bovines) passing the submission process...
>
>The submitter understands the Laurel ruling regarding Tavern/Inn signs and
>the name being capable of graphic representation... however, I promised that
>I would solicite opinion on the name:

Both of the possibilities below should be clear of that Laurel ruling.
Yes! (she says, as we all leap that hurdle)

I happened to bring Reaney & Wilson to work with me today.  Great timing!

>House of the Bovinus   (Latin for Bovine/Cattle)

I think this is should be registerable, providing the word Bovinus is
datable in period.  But, given the ending, isn't Bovinus singular?  So this
is House of the Cow, not House of the Cows/Cattle.

>and/or
>
>House of the Argent Bovinus
>
>How does the latin element affect the name?  Bovine {english} is disallowed
>by the OED as it wasn't used until the 1800s, but per the submitter's
research the
>latin term is period (I've yet to inspect this research.)

Okay, I've got one question.  (My Latin stinks.)  Is the word Argent Latin?
 My brain is saying it's French only, but I don't have any of my language
dictionaries here.

If Argent is French and Bovinus is Latin, is a French-Latin mix
registerable?  I think it would be  a Laurel judgment call.  We will
register French-Latin names, so Argent Bovinus is probably worth a shot.  

By the way, Argent is silver in French.  Blanc is the word for white.  In
heraldry, we use the color white to represent the silver (plain, unpainted)
shield.  That's my understanding.  An armory herald could explain it
better, I think.

Documentation:

Reaney & Wilson, p. 13 under Argent, date the spelling Argent to 1180 as a
byname.

Hmm...  Reaney & Wilson, p. 57 under Bouverie, date Laurence Buveries to
1199 and give the meaning of this name as "'Dweller at the place were oxen
are reared', OFr bouverie".

So, if nothing else, House of the Argent Buveries (or Argent Bouverie)
should be registerable (French-French).  Or would that be Buveries Argent?
Does the adjective come first or last in French?  I know it's last in Spanish.

Heck.  Since both the citations for Argent and Buveries are from Reaney &
Wilson, the words may well have passed into English use.  So House of the
Argent Buveries should be registerable as an English construction.
Unlikely in period, but probably registerable.  

Here's some parallel construction documentation for you.  

Reaney & Wilson, p. 141, under Dragon: "Occasionally also from a sign:
William Strode called atte Dragon, brewer 1374".  Reaney & Wilson (p. 372
under Raven) dates the spelling atte Raven to 1344 and gives its derivation
as being from a sign name.  The same is true for atte Lamme (dated to 1320
on p. 269 under Lamb).   

>Herr Manfred von Wolf, Sentinal Pursuivant

By the way, I conflict checked these two online, and they both look clear
at the moment.

Hope this helps,

Mari

=================================================
Lady Mari Elspeth nic Bryan
Bordure Herald, Kingdom of Ansteorra
mka Kathleen M. O'Brien
kobrien at bmc.com
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