"James Lipton - ExaltationOfLarks" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lipton James)

A SIEGE OF HERONS
From the way the heron doggedly waits for its prey in the shallows at its feet.
A BALE OF TURTLES
To my knowledge no one has ever successfully tracked this term to its lair. C.E. Hare suspects that it may be one of the erroneous terms, a corruption of dule, since early scribes sometimes confused turtledoves with turtles.
A HOVER OF TROUT
A HUSK OF HARES
Vide the note on BALE OF TURTLES. This is probably also a member of the sixth family of venereal terms, an error which became the rule.
A LABOR OF MOLES
A SHOAL OF BASS
A RAG OF COLTS
There has been considerable conjecture about this term. It may be related to rage, a word we will encounter later in another context; it may derive from the Old Norse rogg (from whence "rug"), meaning something shaggy (like a colt's coat). Hare conjectures that it is the word that became our word "rack," one of the gaits of a five-gaited horse.
A DRIFT OF HOGS
A TRIP OF GOATS
A very widely used term, given by eighteen authorities. It could come from the Icelandic thrypa, meaning "flock," or it could be a corruption of "tribe."
A CHARM OF FINCHES
A SKEIN OF GEESE
in flight.
A GAGGLE OF GEESE
on water.
A CETE OF BADGERS
Another obscure one. Hare makes the interesting guess that it may be the old Chaucerian word for "city."
A CAST OF HAWKS
A DECEIT OF LAPWINGS
AN OSTENTATION OF PEACOCKS
A DROVE OF CATTLE
A SINGULAR OF BOARS
It seems an odd term for a company, but who are we to argue with Sir John Buttesthorn, the Knight of Dupplin?
A TIDINGS OF MAGPIES
A BOUQUET OF PHEASANTS
A CONGREGATION OF PLOVERS
AN UNKINDNESS OF RAVENS
A BUILDING OF ROOKS
From their nesting habits.
A RICHNESS OF MARTENS
A HOST OF SPARROWS
See the previous note on angels.
A KNOT OF TOADS
A DESCENT OF WOODPECKERS
A SOUNDER OF SWINE
This is one of those words that suffered some interesting sea-changes hopping back and forth across the English Channel. Originally it was the Old English word sunor, meaning herd. The Norman French adopted it and it became Gallicized to soundre. Since Norman French was the language of all the earliest hunting treatises, and thus the principal source of hunting terms, the word returned to England as sounder, with the English none the wiser that they were borrowing back their own rake. The hunting word "redingote" made a similar trip. The snobbish French affected the English word "riding-coat" which, in their accent, became re-din-goat. The snobbish English, affecting French, heard the word, thought it was French, and took it back across the Channel as redingote, which it has remained to this day.
A MUSTERING OF STORKS
A CLUTCH OF EGGS
A DRAY OF SQUIRRELS
A Middle English word for their nests.
AN ARMY OF CATERPILLARS
A FLIGHT OF SWALLOWS
A CRY OF PLAYERS
The proper venereal term for a troupe of actors in the sixteenth century.
A CLOWDER OF CATS
A truly marvelous venereal term that somehow conveys the essence of cats in a group. Hodgkin, in Proper Terms, says that is is probably the same word as "clutter."