Editing Collective noun (section)

== Terms of venery ==
{{Further|List of animal names}}
The tradition of using "terms of venery" or "nouns of assembly", collective nouns that are specific to certain kinds of animals, stems from an [[Kingdom of England|English]] [[medieval hunting|hunting tradition]] of the [[Late Middle Ages]]. The fashion of a consciously developed hunting language came to England from [[medieval France|France]]. It was marked by an extensive proliferation of specialist vocabulary, applying different names to the same feature in different animals. The elements can be shown to have already been part of French and English hunting terminology by the beginning of the 14th century. In the course of the 14th century, it became a courtly fashion to extend the vocabulary, and by the 15th century, the tendency had reached exaggerated and even satirical proportions. Other synonyms for "terms of venery" include "company nouns", "gatherations", and "agminals".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Meier |first1=Hans H. |title=Linguistic Studies offered to Berthe Siertsema |date=1980 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-48314-9 |pages=181–193 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004483149/B9789004483149_s015.xml |language=en |chapter=Agminals in English: Group Words in Word Groups}}</ref>

''[[The Treatise (Walter of Bibbesworth)|The Treatise]]'', written by [[Walter of Bibbesworth]] in the mid-1200s, is the earliest source for collective nouns of animals in any European vernacular (and also the earliest source for animal noises).<ref>William Sayers, "Animal vocalization and human polyglossia in Walter of Bibbesworth's 13th-century domestic treatise in Anglo-Norman French" in Sign System Studies (Tartu, 2009) pp. 173–187</ref> The ''Venerie'' of Twiti (early 14th century) distinguished three types of [[droppings]] of animals, and three different terms for [[herd]]s of animals. [[Gaston Phoebus]] (14th century) had five terms for droppings of animals, which were extended to seven in the ''Master of the Game'' (early 15th century). The focus on collective terms for groups of animals emerged in the later 15th century. Thus, a list of collective nouns in Egerton MS 1995, dated to {{circa|1452}} under the heading of "termis of venery &c.", extends to 70 items,<ref>Dalby, David. ''Lexicon of the Mediaeval German Hunt: A Lexicon of Middle High German Terms (1050–1500), Associated with the Chase, Hunting with Bows, Falconry, Trapping and Fowling'', Walter de Gruyter, 1965, {{ISBN|978-3-11-081860-4}}, p. xli.</ref> and the list in the ''[[Book of Saint Albans]]'' (1486) runs to 164 items,<ref>The lighthearted [[BBC]] item "''Why a group of hippos is called a bloat''" ... see e.g.{{blockquote|{{cite web 
| last        = Medina 
| first       = Kerry 
| publisher   = [[BBC]] 
| date        = November 9, 2018 
| title       = Why a group of hippos is called a bloat 
| url         = https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20181108-why-a-group-of-hippos-is-called-a-bloat 
| quote       = QUOTE:<br/><br/><< People have been coming up with terms to describe animal groupings for hundreds of years, but it wasn't until The ''[[Book of St Albans]]'', written by [[Juliana Berners]], a 15th-Century Benedictine prioress from England, that they were recorded extensively. Also known by the title ''The Book of Hawking, Hunting and Blasing of Arms'', Berners' 1486 publication of this gentlemen's catalogue of wildlife and hunting included 165 collective nouns for animal species, and is said to make her one of the earliest female authors writing in the English language.<br/><br/>Yet, the only documented evidence of this woman's existence is the attribution 'Explicit Dam Julyans Barnes in her boke of huntyng', which appeared in the original edition. >> 
| url-status  = live 
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210812185720/https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20181108-why-a-group-of-hippos-is-called-a-bloat 
| archivedate = August 12, 2021 
}}}}says, in part, "Berners' 1486 publication of this gentlemen's catalogue of wildlife and hunting included 165 collective nouns for animal species".</ref> many of which, even though introduced by "the compaynys of beestys and fowlys", relate not to venery, but to human groups and professions and are humorous, such as "a Doctryne of doctoris"'', "''a Sentence of Juges"'', "''a Fightyng of beggers"'', "''an uncredibilite of Cocoldis"'', "''a Melody of harpers"'', "''a Gagle of women"'', "''a Disworship of Scottis", etc.<ref>1901 facsimile reprint, E. Stock, London ([https://archive.org/stream/bokeofsaintalban00bernuoft#page/114/mode/2up pp. 115–117).]</ref><ref>''Transactions of the Philological Society'', Volume 26, Issue 3, pp. 79–175, August 1909.</ref>

The ''Book of Saint Albans'' became very popular during the 16th century and was reprinted frequently. [[Gervase Markham]] edited and commented on the list in his ''The Gentleman's Academie'', in 1595. The book's popularity had the effect of perpetuating many of these terms as part of the [[Standard English]] lexicon even if they were originally meant to be humorous and have long ceased to have any practical application.<ref name="Todd&Hancock">{{cite book | last = Todd | first = Loreto |author2=Hancock, Ian | year = 1986 | title = International English Usage | publisher = Psychology Press | pages = 133–134 | isbn = 0-415-05102-9 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iccd5KAUnYQC&pg=PA133 | access-date = 2011-04-04}}</ref><ref>Alkemade et al. (eds), Linguistic Studies Offered to Berthe Siertsema (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1980),
pp. 181-93</ref>

Even in their original context of medieval venery, the terms were of the nature of [[kenning]]s, intended as a mark of erudition of the gentlemen able to use them correctly rather than for practical communication.<ref>{{Cite book|title=An Exaltation of Larks|last=Lipton|first=James|publisher=Penguin|year=1993|isbn=978-0140170962|page=8}}</ref> The popularity of the terms in the modern period has resulted in the addition of numerous lighthearted, humorous, or facetious<ref>{{cite book|last=Harris|first=Theodore L.|title=The Literacy Dictionary|author2=Hodges, Richard E.|publisher=International Reading Association|year=1995|isbn=0-87207-138-3|page=271}}<!--| access-date = 2011-04-04--></ref> collective nouns.