Frankly, a blogger's guess is as good as any I read: A pride of lions comes from the felines' place at the top of the jungle food chain. You must be aware of the kinds of nouns, and one of them is collective nouns. Was "ugly" ever a word meaning a group of walruses? More kids are attracted to the names of various wild animals, pet animals, etc. If borrowed straight from Latin, youd expect it to either simply be a *parata of lions or something like a *parrot of lions (or *parat, or however the spelling might have ended up). He also attributes the names to The Book of St. Albans. They are inventions of the 13th and 14th centuries, and when their number and complexity started approaching the ludicrous, so did their silliness. To describe a group of male lions, it is best to use the term coalition. Latin ae is nearly always [i] in Modern English, which goes back to an earlier pronunciation [e] in Middle English. There is a lion pride roaming in the middle of the forest. Phonetically, it would be somewhat difficult to derive pride from Latin parata. Do we have here some specialists for etymology who might give their view as to. To use them in sentences, you can refer to the examples provided below. When we refer to a group of lions but only of the same gender, we can use the term coalition. English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. The pronunciation of pride with an [a] diphthong, combined with the consistent spelling with an i all the way back to the 15th century, is fairly good evidence that it was in fact an original [i] sound. This popularity kept the lists of terms for beasts and birds in peoples minds. The coalition of lions has gone to the riverside for hunting. Another type of collective noun to describe the group of lions can be sowse, which is used for the group of lions who coexist. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. 
Though some of Dame Julianas terms, such as business of ferrets, fall of woodcocks, and shrewdness of apes are wonderful to read and have a certain resonance, nobody seems to have used them in real life. The d was regularly lost in French. Names for collective groups of animals are thought to date from The Book of Saint Albans, published in 1486 by Dame Juliana Berners, where many of the words used for animal groups were chosen purely for the humorous images they conjure up, or the alliteration. Is the fact that ZFC implies that 1+1=2 an absolute truth? What's the methodology for naming groups of animals? Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. Easy, its simply the name for a group of one particular type of animal.). A group of lions might be a group of animals that go hunting together to get their prey. 1 Short of there being some obscure old source that actually happens to tell us conclusively of how and when this particular term was first used, and by whom. (Herd, or memory.). So while there may be no way to know with absolute certainty whether the term pride of lions really is a loan from somewhere else,1 I would say that the accumulated evidence in favour of it simply being a perfectly common (in the world of venery terms) use of the regular noun pride is quite a lot more convincing than the evidence that speaks for loan words. by Joseph Twadell Shipley (1984), it is stated that "in venery, a gentleman could not qualify as a sportsman unless he knew the proper group names (including a pride of lions)." Examples of terms of venery that quite clearly are personifications, as it were, of perceived characteristics of the animal described (taken from the Wikipedia page linked to by mplungjan in a comment) include: Since lions areor were, at least, in the Middle Agesvery commonly used as a symbol for pride, bravery, and strength personified (think Richard Lionheart, etc. The word pride can be used as. Announcing the Stacks Editor Beta release! Required fields are marked *, Frequently Asked Questions on Collective Nouns for Lions. The Modern Language Association of America apparently has a record of the use from around 1450, so the Book of St. Albans is not the first, but was one of the first records. (Not sure what a collective noun is? The login page will open in a new tab. How to change the place of Descriptive Diagram. Are "streak" and "ambush" really the collective nouns for tigers? The Book of St. Albans does not give any in-depth information, just gives the same blas mention as the OED and Etymonline, which just shows that already in the 15th century, at least, the term was considered just an extension of the normal word pride, whether that is etymologically justified or not. Also, the male lion's mane of hair has often been liked to a king's crown. These kinds of nouns describe a group of animals, birds, deer, etc. 
Copyright - SafarisAfricana are a division of NoSweat Digital Ltd, Kemp House, 152 160 City Road, London EC1V 2NX, The Book of Saint Albans, published in 1486 by Dame Juliana Berners, our article on the collective nouns for birds in Africa. There are some more real gems of names for groups of many safari animals below, so have a read and let us know what you think: A tower of giraffes standing in the savannah grass, A nest of snakes (African pythons to be exact! Collective nouns are used for a lot of animals and they are different for different animals. Why were lions singled out to form "prides"? One wouldn't expect a natural etymology in that case. It shous four red lions on a field of blue. Their memory was perpetuated in later centuries by antiquarians such as Joseph Strutt, whose Sports and Pastimes of England was published in 1801. The 20 best malaria-free safari destinations, The 6 greatest animal migrations in Africa. These are a few commonly used collective nouns for lions. The book was hugely popular, and was reprinted at Westminster the same year by the famous Wynkyn de Worde. In the US, how do we make tax withholding less if we lost our job for a few months? ** Note that the actual list includes such groupings as It's an excellent answer. Lions are usually found with their families and are always together. In a section on hunting, Dame Juliana Barnes wrote the many names for groups of animals, the most famous being a murder of crows. Congrats on your +50. ), it makes good sense to use pride in particular for this perceivedly very proud animal. a superfluity of nuns, a fellowship of yomen, a Lordship of monks, and Pontifical of Prelates. There would be other possibilities, e.g. Pride of lions can be used as an idiom. Therefore, we can relate their topics to animals and teach them accordingly. If it had gone through French, it would probably have ended up being the same as parry (since Latin -ta gives (Old) French -e, which was usually borrowed as -y early on). Like this list of animal names? Please log in again. Can we say prides of lions or herds of cattle. The term can be used in various ways. Etymonline does not hesitate to assume that "a pride of lions" is the same word as pride, noun of adjective proud. By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. ), A shiver of sharks off the South African cost. Weve scoured the internet high and wide to bring you this collection of collective animal nouns, but no doubt there are many more group names out there weve missed. The sowse of lions looks adorable, and I would like to capture this moment. Our team has done extensive research on the sowse of lions to understand their habitation. Whilst some names for animals are general and can be used for any subject swarm, herd, etc. Blamed in front of coworkers for "skipping hierarchy", orthogonal basis functions on arbitrary domains and boundary conditions. If yes, perhaps youd like a look at our article on the collective nouns for birds in Africa. Is there a suffix that means "like", or "resembling"? Weve got to make a distinction, of course, between these fanciful or poetic collective names and the many examples we use every day, like pride of lions, pack of dogs, flight of stairs, flock of birds, string of racehorses, and gaggle of geese. A group of lions might be a group a dominant male animal has prepared for itself as its group. Want to impress whilst on a safari game drive? Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience. Your Mobile number and Email id will not be published. Below are some sentences using collective nouns in bold. 
Exactly what I found after this past hour of reading. Scientifically plausible way to sink a landmass, Blondie's Heart of Glass shimmering cascade effect. many other animal group names are specific to just a single animal type. rev2022.7.20.42634. Your Mobile number and Email id will not be published. To increase the vocabulary of the kids, and to improve their communication skills, it is necessary to improve grammar skills. 
(Most subcultures today have these, the person who looks down upon the person who can recollect the comic book issue in which a particular superhero made his first appearance taking pride in knowing the scores of every final in a particular sport, and so on). There is another piece of circumstantial evidence: terms of venery in English are often quite transparently meant to be amusing or exaggerated gibes at perceived characteristics of the animal in question. However, these "traditional" collective nouns came into being in 15th century England, where a lion was much more often seen on a flag or a crest, than on a savannah, and where it was indeed associated with pride. 
Therefore, learning the types of collective nouns for lions can help you create different sentences and make you sound sophisticated. The first recorded coat of arms (on a shield) was granted to Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, by King Henry I of England in 1127 A.D. The actual list: (column 2, #1) A Pride of Lionys. The collective nouns used for a group of lions can be pride, coalition, and sowse. 
That certainly could not have gone through French to become English pride, because we already have the French version of praeda in English: prey. The first and common word for the group of lions is pride. Can a human colony be self-sustaining without sunlight using mushrooms? If you know of any others or indeed have an idea for a new name for a group of animals please join in using the comments below! The first collection in English is The Book of St Albans (1486), an early printed work from a small press at St Albans. It is fine to say "prides of lions" and "herds of cattle" if you have more than one pride or herd. The book is likely a compilation of earlier works, probably written in French. More generally than that, there was always an element of word-play. All four here are from the 1486 Boke of Seynt Albans, as indeed is "pride of lions". a connection with Latin praeda (prey). is nothing new. The simplest argument in favour of the conventional view; that pride in this sense is a use of the same word that refers to the quality of being proud, is that it is in keeping with many other such words for animals: A sleuth of Bears (sloth of bears appears to be slightly later). By clicking Post Your Answer, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy. Heres the perfect list to brush up your knowledge of collective nouns for animals you might see. And then theres the form of parata that went through Italian or Spanish before entering French and thence English: parade. So,** many conventional names for groups of animals are poetic inventions (nothing to do with Latin) that one can trace back to the fifteenth century. The best way to teach the kids is by giving examples of various animals and birds. How to modify a coefficient in a linear regression. As the nobility of the wild, lions were anthropomorphically given the same pride that human royalty carried due to their place in the social food chain. For the crows, I always thought that the idea was "many crows = an abandoned corpse = murder". Full-grown lions have no natural predators (excluding humans, of course) and the females are ferocious hunters. There are some such nouns that relate more directly to the behaviour of the actual animal itself, than to such personalised traits, so your suggestions cannot be fully ruled out. 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We hope that the information would be really helpful for the kids to increase their vocabulary. Collective nouns, like pride and herd, are singular nouns that refer to a group of things, people, or animals. How about the collective noun for elephants? And there was again when such words were revived, having dropped out of use for several centuries but then revitalised because they are amusing, and because they provided a sort of vicarious knowledge; things one can know whose value is largely in enjoying knowing them. To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers. Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language & Usage Stack Exchange! Pride, in this sense, is not a negative term but relates to a dignified sense of self that is proportionate to one's high standing. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. It only takes a minute to sign up. In the above examples, each collective noun is singular, but it is possible to use plural collective nouns as long as you are talking about two or more different groups of things, people, or animal. Bad example, I guess. pride of lions connected with proud/pride (convincing or not) -. Why dont second unit directors tend to become full-fledged directors? Are any of these collective nouns hoaxes? Everyone knows that a group of lions is called a pride but did you know that a group of rhinos is a called crash or a stubbornness? When we see a group of male lions or a group of lionesses, then we can refer to them as a coalition of lions.