Terms of Venery or Nouns of Assembly

Terms of Venery (or Nouns of Assembly)
Courtly hunting in France and England was all the rage in the 14^th and 15^th centuries, with its own specialised vocabulary known as “terms of venery” (venery being an archaic word for hunting). A brave gentleman might hunt a pride of lions while one less brave might target a confusion of guinea fowl, or a lady could come across a murmuration of starlings or a bellow of bullfinches on her morning ride.

Terms of venery were the linguistic equivalent of silly hats: colourful, affected, fashionable, and very popular. And like most jargon, they were ripe for parody. Some say that it was The Book of Saint Albans in 1486 that started it all. Among its compaynys of beestys and fowlys, keen-eyed observers noticed several new species: a Fightyng of beggars, a Gagle of women, a Sentence of Juges and an uncredibilite of Cocoldis (an incredulity of cuckolds — wouldn’t you be disbelieving if your better half were cheating on you?).

Picture Credit: “A Pride of Lions” by Zeetz Jones is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The tradition of using “terms of venery” — collective nouns that are specific to certain kinds of animals — stems from an English hunting tradition of the Late Middle Ages. In the 14^th century, it became a courtly fashion to extend the vocabulary, and by the 15^th century, this tendency had reached exaggerated proportions. The focus on collective terms for groups of animals emerged in the later 15^th century. To anyone learning English, these words must seem like cruel jokes, with no purpose other than to add complexity. And that’s exactly what they are or appear to be.

Many animal groups have colourful, fanciful names: a Murder of crows, a Covey of partridges, and so on. Did you know that many, if not all, the group names can be traced back to The Book of Saint Albans, published in 1486, about angling, hawking and hunting (see below)? The book is attributed to Juliana Berners (or Barnes or Bernes), who gave animal groups imaginative yet oddly appropriate names. Berners, who had an intimate knowledge of wildlife, may not have intended these names to be taken seriously, but they were repeated through the ages and are now commonly used. Here, courtesy of Dictionary.com and others from the sources listed at the end of this paper are but a few.

The Book of Saint Albans
The Book of Saint Albans (or Boke of Seynt Albans) is the common title of a book printed in 1486 that is a compilation of matters relating to the interests of the time of a gentleman and not specifically to name for groups of different animals. It was the last of eight books printed by the St Albans Press in England. It is also known by titles that are more accurate, such as “The Book of Hawking, Hunting, and Blasing of Arms”.The printer is sometimes called the Schoolmaster Printer. This edition credits the book, or at least the part on hunting, to Juliana Berners as there is an attribution to her at the end of the 1486 edition reading: “Explicit Dam Julyans Barnes in her boke of huntyng.”

Scholarly reviews as to the the sources of the Book of Saint Albans indicates that little in it was original. It is expressly stated at the end of the Blasynge of Armys that the section was “translated and compylyt,” and it is likely that the other treatises are translations, probably from the French. Only three perfect copies of the first edition are known to exist. A facsimile, entitled The Boke of St Albans, with an introduction by William Blades, appeared in 1881.

Animal Nouns of Assembly
Here’s my list. There will be others that didn’t make it to the list – what have I missed? The group names for bees surprised me.

Aardvark – a flock, an armory (or armoury)
Albatrosses – a rookery or a gam
Alligators – a congregation
Alpaca – a herd
Anteaters – a candle
Antelope – a herd, a cluster or a tribe
Ants – an army, a colony, a nest, a bike or a swarm
Apes – a shrewdness, a troop
Armadillos – a roll
Auks – a colony, a flock, a raft
Avocets -a colony
Baboons – a flange, a troop
Badgers – a cete, a colony
Barracudas – a school
Bats – a colony, cloud, flock or camp
Bears – a sleuth or sloth
Beavers – a family, a colony
Bees – a bike, a swarm, a cast, a cluster, a colony, a drift, an erst, a grist, hive, nest, rabble or a stand
Birds – a flock, a flight
Bison – a herd
Bitterns – a sedge, a siege
Boars – a herd, a sounder
Bobolinks – a chain
Boxers (Dogs) – a comedy
Buffalo – a herd, a troop, a gang or an obstinancy
Bullfinches – a bellowing
Bustards – a flock
Butterflies – a flight, a flutter, a rabble
Buzzards – a wake
Camels – a caravan, a flock, a herd, a train
Capons – a muse
Caterpillars – an army
Cats – a clowder, a glaring, a clowder, a cluster, a clutter, a pounce
Cattle – a herd, a drove, a yoke, a team
Cheetahs – a coalition
Chickens – a flock, a brood, a peep, a clutch
Chinchillas – a colony
Clams – a bed
Cobras – a quiver
Cockroaches – an intrusion
Cod – a school
Coots – a covert, a commotion, a cover, a fleet, a flock, a pod, a rasp, a swarm
Cormorants – a flight, a gulp
Coyotes – a pack
Crabs – a cast
Cranes – a herd, a sedge, a seige
Crocodiles – a bask, a congregation, a nest
Crows – a murder
Curlews – a head, a herd
Deer – a bunch, a herd, a mob, a rangale
Dinosaurs – a herd, a pack
Dogfish – a troop
Dogs – a pack (wild), a kennel, a mute, a litter (young)
Dolphins – a school, a pod, a herd, a team
Donkeys – a herd, a drove, a pace
Dotterels – a trip
Doves – an arc, a cote, a dole, a dule, a flight, a piteousness, a pitying
Dragonflies – a cluster, a flight
Ducks (or mallards) – a flock, a herd, a badling, a brace, a safe, a sord, a sore, a waddling, a bunch, a paddling, a raft, a skein, a string, a team
Dunlins – a fling
Eagles – a convocation
Eels – a bed, a swarm
Elephant seals – a pack
Elephants – a parade, a herd, a memory
Elk – a gang or a herd
Emus – a mob
Falcons – a cast
Ferrets – a business, a busyness
Finches – a charm
Fish – a school
Flamingos – a flamboyance or a stand
Flies – a business, a cloud, a swarm
Foxes – a skulk or leash
Frogs – an army
Gazelle – a herd
Geese – a gaggle, a flock, a plump, a skein, a team, a wedge
Gerbils – a horde
Giraffes – a journey, a tower, a herd, a corps
Gnats – a cloud, a horde, a rabble, a swarm
Gnus – a herd, an implausibility
Goats – a herd, a flock, a tribe, a trip, a trippe
Goldfinches – a charm
Goldfish – a troubling
Gorillas – a band, a troop, a whoop
Goshawks – a flight
Grasshoppers – a cloud, a swarm,
Grouse – a covey, a pack
Guillemots – a bazaar
Guinea fowl – a rasp, a flock
Guinea pigs – a herd
Gulls – a colony, a flock
Hampsters – a horde
Hares – a band, a down, a drove, a flick, a husk
Hawks – a cast, an aerie, a staff, a leash, a flight, a flock, a kettle, a boil, a cauldron, a mew, a screw, a stream
Hedgehogs – an array
Hens – a brood
Herons – a flight, a sedge, a sege, a siege
Herring – an army, a glean, a shoal
Hippopotami – a bloat, a herd, a thunder
Hornets – a bike, a nest, a swarm
Horses – a stable, a stud, a harras, a herd (wild horses), a band (wild horses), a team (workhorses), a rag (colts), a string (ponies)
Hounds – a cry
Hummingbirds – a charm
Hyenas – a cackle
Ibises – a colony
Iguanas – a mess
Jackals – a pack
Jaguars – a shadow, a leap a prowl
Jays – a band, a party, a scold
Jellyfish – a smack, a smuth, a fluther, a brood, a bloom
Kangaroos – a mob, court, troop, herd
Kittens – a litter or kindle
Lapwings – a deceit, a desert
Larks – an exaltation
Lemurs – a conspiracy
Leopards – a leap, a lepe
Lice – a colony
Linnets – a parcel
Lions – a pride, a sawt
Lizards – a lounge
Llamas – a herd, a flock
Lobsters – a risk
Locusts – a cloud, a host, a swarm
Mackeral – a shoal
Magpies – a flock
Mallards – a flush, a puddling
Mice – a colony, a nest
Minnows – a steam
Mole – a company, a labour
Mongoose – a troop, a committee, a delegation
Monkeys – a barrel, a troop
Moorhens – a plump
Moose – a herd
Mosquitoes – a swarm, a cloud
Mules – a pack
Nightingales – a flock
Octopus – a consortium
Ostriches – a flock, a troop
Otters – a family, a romp, a bevy, a raft
Owls – a parliament
Oxen – a team or yoke
Oysters – a bed
Panthers – a claw
Parrots – a pandemonium, a flock
Partridges – a covey
Peacocks – an ostentation
Pelicans – a pod
Penguins – a huddle, a rookery, a colony, a waddle (penguins on land), a raft (penguins in water)
Peregrines – a cadge
Pheasants – a flock, a bouquet, a nest, a nide, a nye
Pigeons – a flock, a flight, a kit, a passel
Pigs – a drift or drove (younger pigs), or a sounder or team (older pigs), a litter (piglets)
Pilchard – a school
Pintails – a knob
Plovers – a congregation, a band a flight, a leash, a stand, a wing
Polar bears – an aurora, a celebration, a pack
Porcupines – a prickle
Porpoises – a pod, a school, a shoal
Poultry – a run
Ptarmigans – a covey
Puppies – a litter
Quails – a bevy, a flock, a covey
Rabbits – a herd, a nest, a litter or a wrack (young rabbits)
Raccoons – a gaze, a nursery, a committee, a smack, a brace, a troop
Racehorses – a field
Rainbowfish – a party
Rats – a colony, a horde, a mischief
Rattlesnakes – a rhumba
Ravens – an unkindness
Red deer – a herd
Redwings – a crowd
Reindeer (Caribou) – a herd
Rhinoceros – a crash, a herd
Rooks – a building, a parliament
Ruffs – a hill
Salmon – a bind, a leap, a run salmon, a draught
Sandpipers – a fling
Sardines – a family
Sea lions – a pod
Seafowls – a cloud
Seagulls – a squabble
Seals – a herd, a pod, a rookery
Sharks – a shiver
Sheep – a flock, a fold, a herd
Skunk – a stench, a surfeit
Snails – an escargatoire, a rout, a walk
Snakes – a nest, a ball
Snipes – a walk, a wisp
Sparrows – a host, a quarrel, a tribe, a ubiquity
Spiders – a cluster, a clutter
Squirrels – a dray or scurry
Starlings – a chattering, a murmuration
Stingrays – a fever
Storks – a mustering, a flight a phalanx
Swallows – a flight, a gulp
Swans – a lamentation, a bevy or game (if in flight – a wedge), a herd, a bank, a drift, a squadron, a team, a whiteness, a whiting
Swifts – a flock
Teals – a spring, a bunch, a coil, a knob, a raft
Termites – a colony, a nest, a swarm
Thrushes – a mutation
Tigers – an ambush or streak
Toads – a knot
Turkeys – a gang or rafter
Turtledoves – a pitying
Turtles – a bale or nest
Vultures – a colony, a committee, a wake
Wallabies – a mob
Walruses – a huddle, a herd, a flock
Wasps – a swarm, a hive, a colony, a nest
Water buffalo – a herd
Waterfowls – a plump, a bunch, a knob, raft
Weasels – a colony, gang or pack or a sneak
Whales – a pod, school, or gam
Widgeons – a company. a bunch, a coil, a flight, a knob, a trip
Wild cats – a destruction
Wildfowls – a trip, a bunch, a knob, a lute, a skein
Wolves – a pack
Woodcocks – a fall, a covey, a flight, a plump
Woodpeckers – a descent
Wrens – a herd, a flock
Yaks – a herd
Zebras – a zeal, a hed, a cohort, a dazzle

Usage of Collective Nouns
In linguistics, a collective noun is a word referring to a collection of things taken as a whole. Most collective nouns in everyday speech are not specific to particular things. For example, the collective noun “group” can be applied to people (“a group of people”) or dogs (“a group of dogs”) or other things. Some collective nouns are specific to one kind of thing, especially terms of venery, which identify groups of specific animals (see my list earlier). For example, “pride” as a term of venery always refers to lions, never to dogs or cows. Other examples come from popular culture – such as a group of owls, which is called a “parliament”.^[1]

Merriam-Webster writes that most terms of venery fell out of use in the 16^th century, including a “murder” for crows. It goes on to say that some of the terms in The Book of Saint Albans were “rather fanciful”, explaining that the book extended collective nouns to people of specific professions, such as a “poverty” of pipers. It concludes that for lexicographers, many of these don’t satisfy criteria for entry by being “used consistently in running prose” without meriting explanation. Some terms that were listed as commonly used were “herd”, “flock”, “school”, and “swarm”.^[2]

A few Collective Nouns for People
The word team is just one of the many examples of collective nouns for people who are in a group and acting as a single entity: ^[3]

audience of many
band of brothers
board of directors
cast of clowns
choir of singers
class of students
committee of experts
company of dancers
crowd of fans
department of finance
faculty of Sussex University
family of relatives
firm of solicitors
gang of bandits
group of fans

Collective nouns don’t all refer to groups of people or animals. Groups of things can also be referred to as a unit: ^[4]

batch of DVDs
bucket of water
bowl of cereal
box of chocolate
bevy of options
bunch of flowers
case of soda
cup of tea
deck of cards
galaxy of stars
gear for camping
harvest of vegetables
packet of salt
pile of rubbish
portfolio of investments
pot of stew
string of pearls
tub of water
vault of money

Perhaps the oddest collective noun that I’ve come across is A Sneer, a group of Butlers.^[5]

Sources and Further Reading

A Journey of Giraffes
Picture Credit: “Giraffe Kindergarten” by Focx Photography is licensed under CC BY 2.0

The Martin Pollins Blog

Terms of Venery or Nouns of Assembly

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