Escutcheon
From Wikinfo
- For criticism see Criticism of Escutcheon
Escutcheon, pronounced /ɪ'skʌtʃən/, /I"skVtS@n/ (which rhymes with: -ʌtʃən), is (1) a shield or heraldric device; (2) an individual or corporate coat of arms; (3) the insignia around doorknob's exterior hardware or a door lock's cosmetic plate; (4) (architectural) a flat protective covering (on a door or wall etc) to prevent soiling by user's fingers. The term "escutcheon" has also many multiple uses such as to describe (5) the plate on the stern of a ship inscribed with the ship's name and (6) in medicine, refers to the male or female distribution of pubic hair.
Escutcheon is derived from late 15th century Anglo-Norman French word "escuchon", based on the Latin word scutum, 'shield'.[1]
The word is also used to describe the character of people or groups of people such as blot on the escutcheon, a stain on the family name. (Probably from the little known and extremely turgid play of the same name by Robert Browning).
A derivative of escutcheon is 'inescutcheon' (noun) which means 'a small shield within a shield'.
Contents |
Occurences of the word "escutcheon"
Heraldic
Furniture/plumbing
Character
- "What wonder if people began to take note of these signs of the times, and if Sparta was thought to owe much of its success in the great war to its abstention from that facile receptivity which had blotted the escutcheon of Athens". [2] ("Facile receptivity" in this regard means miscegnation)
See also
- Escutcheon (furniture) - an architectural item of door furniture that surrounds a keyhole or lock cylinder.
- Escutcheon (heraldy)
References
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary
- ^ Myres, John L., The Political Ideas of the Greeks, With Special Reference to Early Notions About Law, Authority, and Natural Order in Relation to Human Ordinance, Greenwood Press, New York, 1927, republished 1968. pg 364
Translations
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