How to Read a Family Coat of Arms
- 1). Examine the background color on your coat of arms. This will be the first word in your sentence. For instance, if the background is silver, your first word is "argent." If it is red, your first word is "gules," both translated into Old English.
- 2). Look at the symbols on your coat of arms. The center symbol makes the next part of the sentence. For instance, if it is a white goose with a yellow beak, describe the goose as being "argent" (silver or white) with a golden beak or a "beak or." Colors come after the noun they describe. If the background is silver, your sentence now reads, "Argent on a goose argent beaked or."
- 3). Continue reading the symbols, moving to the left center symbol, if there is one. If not, move to symbols around the center symbol. For instance, if the goose has a red oak tree with golden acorns to its left the sentence now reads "Argent on a goose argent beaked or resting its dexter (left) foot against an oak tree gules fructed (fruited) or." The goose's foot tells the reader where the oak tree is.
- 4). Add the symbols around the center symbols to your sentence with the word "between." If the goose and tree are surrounded by three red quills, the sentence reads "Argent on a goose argent beaked or resting its dexter foot against an oak tree gules fructed or between three quills erect gules." The word "erect" means that the quills appear vertical.
- 5). Practice writing or saying sentences like this with your own and others' coats of arms until the language becomes natural. Reading about one coat of arms a day for three or four weeks should cement the structure in your mind.
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