At a recent visit to my dentist, I saw a book with an intriguing title: An Exaltation of Larks. With curiosity piqued, I read on. Other "nouns of multitude" on the cover included an ostentation of peacocks; a skulk of foxes; a shrewdness of apes; a leap of leopards; a score of bachelors; an unction of undertakers; a click of photographers; a wince of dentists; a lot of realtors "and 1000 more group terms, real and fanciful, from the 15th to the 21st centuries." Without opening the book, I took out paper and pen to record the book's title and author. I knew this was a book I wanted to own.
The author calls "nouns of assemblage," "terms of venery." The etymology of venery shows it to be a word that signifies the hunt. It was so used in early works on the chase, including the earliest known on English hunting.
Author James Lipton lists six Families in the Order of such words:
-Onomatopoeia, as in a murmuration of starlings or a gaggle of geese.
-Characteristic, as in a leap of leopards or a skulk of foxes.
-Appearance, as in a knot of toads or a parliament of owls.
-Habitat, as in a shoal of bass or a nest of rabbits.
-Comment (pro or con, reflecting the observer's point of view), as in a richness of martens or a cowardice of curs.
-Error (resulting from an incorrect transcription of a scribe or printer and subsequently preserved), as in a school of fish, originally "shoal."
This book contains lists from Academe to Zoology--and more. I recommend it, with enthusiasm! It is splendid fun.
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