Tuesday 23 February 2016

Middle English Collective Nouns

Recently I have been reading Chloe Rhodes' little gem of a book, An Unkindness of Ravens: A Book of Collective Nouns (London: Michael O'Mara Books Ltd, 2014).

Apparently most collective nouns - both those we are familiar with today and many more that have fallen into obscurity - date from the Middle Ages. Like the rest of the Middle English vocabulary, these forgotten collective nouns are often vivid, pithy and downright funny.

Some of my favourite:

a goring of butchers

a gaggle of gossips 

a draught of butlers

a rascal of boys

a worship of writers [because they would flatter their rich patrons]

an eloquence of lawyers

a hastiness of cooks

a tabernacle of bakers [tabernacle (original meaning 'tent' or 'little hut') being the stall the backer would set up in the marketplace and from which he would sell his wares]


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