GLOSSARY OF TERMS

As Used By The College of Arms of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc.
Revised: March 7, 2023

Quick Links: Acronyms - Glossary of terms - Reserved regalia - Reserved charges - Restricted charges - Proper colorings - Default postures Named motifs

The purpose of this Glossary is not to define the many heraldic terms which may be found in any basic or general heraldic text. For such terms, we recommend works such as J.P. Brooke-Little's An Heraldic Alphabet or James Parker's A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry. Our purpose here is to help define or explain some of the terms more or less specific to the Society or terms which may differ somewhat from non-SCA usage. In the case where the definition here conflicts with that of the Administrative Handbook or the Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory (SENA), that document supersedes this one.

Note: Some terms described here are no longer in use in the SCA; they are included to assist with understanding older rulings and documents. Spellings here are the standard American ones.

Some common acronyms

AH:

Administrative Handbook

BLoPtC:

Blanket Letter of Permission to Conflict

CD:

Clear Difference (obsolete, currently DC)

CL:

Cover Letter

CoA:

College of Arms

CoH:

College of Heralds

DC:

Distinct Change

ERA:

Existing Registration Allowance

GoT:

Glossary of Terms

IAP:

Individually Attested Pattern

LNA:

Legal Name Allowance

LoAR:

Letter of Acceptances and Returns

LoC:

Letter of Comment

LoI:

Letter of Intent

LoPaD:

Letter of Pends and Discussion

LA:

Lingua Anglica (obsolete, currently LS)

LS:

Lingua Societatis

O&A:

Ordinary and Armorial

OSCAR:

Online System for Commentary And Response

PtC:

Permission to Conflict

RfS:

the Rules for Submissions (obsolete; current version is called SENA)

SC:

Substantial Change

SCA:

the Society for Creative Anachronism

SENA:

the Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory

SFCP:

Step From Core Practice

SFPP:

Step From Period Practice (obsolete, currently SFCP)

These terms are further defined in the Glossary itself.

Glossary of Terms

Accepted, Acceptances.

In a Letter of Acceptances and Returns, the items that are being registered in the Armorial are also referred to as "accepted". See also Letter of Acceptances and Returns; Returned; Pended.

Administrative Handbook, Administrative Handbook of the College of Arms of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc, Admin Handbook, AH.

A portion of the SCA's heraldic rules and regulations. This document lists what items may be registered, what items are protected, how submissions are processed at Laurel level and in kingdoms, commentary processes, and administrative duties of heralds. It has several appendices, including Appendix H for Sources That Do Not Require Photocopies to Laurel. It is available on the Laurel website under "Rules". See also Glossary of Terms; List of Alternate Titles; Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory.

Affiliation Conflict.

A type of name conflict which arises when a submitted non-personal name unmistakably implies ownership by or affiliation with any protected name. See Relationship Conflict. See also Conflict; Permission to Claim Relationship; Presumption.

Alternate Arms.

An unofficial term for armory registered by a participant in the Society which they intend to use as "arms" for an alternate persona; such items are registered as badges, regardless of planned usage. See also Arms; Badge; Device.

Alternate Name.

Any personal name a participant in the Society registers with the College of Arms other than the primary name. See also Primary Name.

Alternate Title.

See List of Alternate Titles.

April 1st Letter of Intent, April 1st LoI.

See also Letter of Intent. A joke Letter of Intent issued in celebration of April Fools' Day. April 1st Letters of Intent are typically filled with puns and other heraldic humor. They do not constitute a genuine attempt at registration, though many items found in April 1st LoIs are technically registerable.

Armiger.

A person who has been awarded the right to bear arms. In the Society, this right can only be given by the Crown of a kingdom or their designated representative, and comes in three levels: Awards of Arms, Grants of Arms, and Patents of Arms (or Letters Patent). The registered personal armory of someone who is not an armiger is called a device; only armigers have arms. The armigerous status of a submitter is not considered in the submissions process, nor is one required to be an armiger to submit armory. Armiger may also be used as a title by someone who has received an award or grant of arms. In this usage, it follows the name, as in Robin Goodfellow, Armiger. See also Arms; Device.

Armorial.

(1) Noun. A list of armory listed alphabetically by the bearers' primary names. (2) Adjective. Of or related to armory. See also Ordinary.

Armorial Element.

A component of heraldic design. An armorial element may be a charge, a line of division, a line treatment, a field treatment, a tincture, or other component that may be used in designing armory. See SENA A2B for a discussion of compatible armorial elements. See also Compatible; Element.

Armory.

Any design that the College of Arms registers or protects, including devices/arms and badges. In addition to registered SCA items, this includes various important modern, historical, and literary non-SCA armory as well as trademarks, logos, and other graphic symbols that resemble heraldic bearings. AH II and III have a more detailed discussion of Registerable and Protected Items. See also Armorial; Arms; Device.

Arms.

In the SCA, people who have been awarded arms by the Crown of a kingdom may call their heraldic device "arms." The distinction between arms and a device is not listed in the Ordinary and Armorial. The College of Arms does not treat them differently in any way. See also Armiger; Device.

Arrangement.

The placement of charges in a group relative to the other charges in the group. For example, the arrangement three roundels two and one is distinct from the arrangement three roundels in fess. For style purposes, arrangement is distinct from location and orientation. For conflict checking purposes, arrangement can also include location on the field, such as in canton. SENA Appendix K gives a list of standard arrangements. See also Location; Orientation.

Attested.

In the SCA, indicates that something is found in period sources. See SENA GP4 for a more complete definition. See also Constructed; Documented; Period.

Augmentation of Arms, Augmentation.

An honor added to a registered device. First, the Crown of a kingdom must give the recipient of the augmentation the right to add a charge or charges to a registered device as an honor. The submitter decides on the desired form of the augmentation, though the Crown may make suggestions including the kingdom's standard augmentation (if one is registered). Then the augmentation must be registered with the College of Arms. An augmentation is not registered as a change of armory; instead, both the underlying arms and the arms with augmentation are protected. Augmentations are usually registered by the College of Arms in the form "[Blazon of device], for augmentation, [blazon of augmentation]". Per the Administrative Handbook, augmentations do not count towards the registration limit. See AH I.B, AH II.D.3, SENA A3A3.

Authentic.

A name is generally said to be authentic if all of its elements can be documented to a specific time and place, based on the available data for that time and place. "Specific time" does not require elements to be documented to the same year. The acceptable gap between name elements will change depending on the data available.

Badge.

A piece of armory used by an individual or group to identify retainers, members, possessions, or items. While a device is used solely to identify or mark its owner (or on the owner's heraldic tabard or other personal possessions), a badge may be used by anyone the owner allows to use it (though the badges of Orders and Awards are restricted to members of those orders). In the SCA, any personal armory a participant in the Society registers with the College of Arms other than the primary device, including " arms" for alternate personas or households, is registered as a badge. See also Alternate Arms; Arms; Device; Fieldless Badge.

Balance.

The state of having charges distributed evenly or in accordance with patterns of period heraldry. Balance is not the same as symmetry. As a general rule, if all the charges are on one side of the shield, the design is considered unbalanced. However, period sensibilities for balance are not always obvious to the modern eye, and period heraldic designs should be consulted before making any categorical statements about balance. By looking at period designs, we find that Azure, in chief three escallops Or is balanced, but Azure, in dexter three escallops in pale Or is less balanced. Likewise, we find that Quarterly gules and argent, in dexter chief a mullet argent is balanced, but Quarterly gules and argent, in dexter base a mullet argent is not balanced. Balanced designs are typical of period Core Style heraldry. See also Core Style; Dynamic; Static.

Barely Overall.

An overall charge what had only a little bit sticking over the edges of the underlying charge. See SENA Appendix I4 for a fuller discussion. See also Overall Charge.

Blanket Letter of Permission to Conflict, BLoPtC.

A letter from a person with registered name(s) and/or armory which grants permission to conflict with at least one of their items to future submissions. There are multiple levels of permission which can be granted by such a letter, and in some cases there may be conditions on when permission is granted. A sample letter can be found in AH Appendix D. See also Letter of Permission to Conflict.

Blazon.

The description in words of a piece of armory. While the blazon is what is recorded in the Ordinary and Armorial, it may be updated by Laurel at any time to more accurately describe the registered emblazon, which is what we protect. See also Emblazon.

Branch.

An official chapter of the Society, such as a kingdom, principality, barony, province, shire, canton, college, port, riding, or stronghold. Households are unofficial and are not branches. See also Required Charges.

Byname.

Any part of a personal name other than the given name. Byname is a broad term that includes hereditary surnames, patronymics and matronymics, locatives, occupational descriptions, epithets, and an element linked to the rest of the name by 'dictus' and similar terms. See SENA Appendix B for a longer discussion of the types of Bynames. See also Dictus; Epithet; Given Name; Hereditary Surname; Locative Byname; Matronymic; Occupational Byname; Patronymic.

Cadency.

The method of modifying armory to indicate a relationship with the owner of the original armory. Changes that were made in period to distinguish one device from another can be considered the smallest changes that were considered significant enough to be noticed at the time they were used. These changes are called cadency steps. Some changes to heraldry may not indicate cadency but may still be blazonable. Systems of cadency vary depending on the time and place.

Change, Distinct.

A term used regarding armory conflict. See Distinct Change.

Change, Intermediate.

A term used regarding name submissions. See Intermediate Change.

Change, Major.

A term used regarding name submissions. See Major Change.

Change, Minor.

A term used regarding name submissions. See Minor Change.

Change, Substantial.

A term used regarding conflict. See Substantial Change.

Charge.

An item placed on a piece of armory. A charge may be directly on the field, overall, or entirely on another charge. A charge may be a simple geometric figure, such as a fess or a roundel, or a representation of an animate or inanimate item, such as a lion or a sword. See SENA A2 for discussion of compatible charges. See also Charge Group.

Charge Group.

A set of charges used together in a design as a single unit. The charges in groups in heraldry usually fall into standard arrangements depending on their number and what other items are involved in the design. A set of charges that are arranged in such a standard arrangement is considered a single group, even if they are of different types and/or tinctures. For example, Per fess argent and gules, two towers sable and a roundel argent contains a single group of primary charges in the standard charge arrangement of two and one. See SENA Appendix I for details of charge group theory. See also Arrangement; Overall Charge Group; Peripheral Charge Group; Primary Charge Group; Secondary Charge Group; Slot Machine Heraldry; Tertiary Charge Group.

Charge Type.

The basic category of a charge in a piece of armory. For example, Gules, a chevron between two candles and a lantern Or has three types of charges: a chevron, candles, and a lantern. For example, Argent, on a pale purpure between two lions combattant gules three lions passant Or has two types of charges: a pale, and lions in two different postures. For example, a greyhound and a wolf are considered the same type of charge: a canine. See also Charge Group; Peripheral Charge Group; Primary Charge Group; Secondary Charge Group; Tertiary Charge Group.

Clear Difference, CD.

Obsolete. This term is not used in SENA, but older rulings made under RfS used it, where it was used to describe a difference that was deemed equivalent in importance to a cadency step. The concept of a Clear Difference is like that of SENA's Distinct Change (DC); most changes which were worth a CD under RfS are worth a DC under SENA. See also Cadency; Distinct Change; Conflict; Significant Difference.

Coherent.

Said of an armorial design in which all the elements work together to produce a single effect. Usually, a field division or the primary charge establishes a pattern for arranging items on the field. Coherence is diminished by placing elements with no relation to each other, or ignoring the pattern set in the design. Coherence is also diminished by using unlike charges in a single charge group.

College of Arms, CoA.

The term used to describe the collective of Society-level heralds. It is comprised of the Sovereigns of Arms, the warranted heralds on Laurel staff, the Principal Herald of each kingdom, and such other persons as Laurel may deem to be of assistance or are nominated by their Principal Heralds. Also, generally applied to those with privileges to write commentary at the Laurel-level on OSCAR. See also College of Heralds.

College of Heralds, CoH.

The term used to describe an individual kingdom's heralds. Each kingdom has its own College of Heralds. Each College of Heralds is comprised of the Principal Herald of that kingdom, the warranted heralds and pursuivants of that kingdom, and such other persons as that Principal Herald may deem to be of assistance. See also College of Arms.

Color.

A subset of tincture. In Society heraldry, the heraldic colors are azure, gules, sable, purpure and vert. The furs that use colors as underlying tinctures, such as counter-ermine and pean, are treated like colors for evaluating contrast. See also Contrast; Furs; Metal; Neutral Tincture; Tincture.

Compatible.

In keeping with the normal usages for the period and domain of the Society. In SENA, guidelines on compatible personal names are given in PN1 and PN2, guidelines on compatible non-personal names are given in NPN1 and NPN2, and guidelines for compatible armory are given in A2, A3, and A4. See also Period; SCA-Compatible; Step From Core Practice.

Complexity Count.

A measure of armorial simplicity described in SENA A3E2. The Complexity Count is based on the number of types of charges and the number of tinctures in an armorial design. Armory with an excessively high complexity count may be returned. However, armorial designs that are period in style may be registered even if they have a high Complexity Count, though they may need to be documented as an Individually Attested Pattern. See SENA A3E2 for a more complete discussion of complexity count.

Conflict.

A submission that is too similar to a protected item registered within the SCA is said to be in conflict with it. SENA discusses personal name conflict in PN3, non-personal name conflict in NPN3, and armorial conflict in A5. Under SENA, conflict includes both identity conflict and relationship/affiliation conflict. In older rulings under RfS, conflict may also refer to being too similar to protected non-SCA items. See also Affiliation Conflict; Identity Conflict; Permission to Conflict; Permission to Claim Relationship; Presumption; Relationship Conflict.

Constructed.

A term used for a name phrase created from attested period name elements by following a documented period pattern. See also Attested; Documented.

Contrast.

A level of visual distinction between different tinctures. See SENA A3B2 for discussion of contrast. See also Color; Metal; Tincture.

Core Style.

One of the two sets of style rules for armory described in SENA. It is based on Anglo-Norman armory, and includes familiar requirements like " good contrast" . It usually does not require documentation and most submissions use these style rules. The standards for Core Style are found in SENA A2 and A3. See also Individually Attested Pattern.

Cover Letter.

A section included with each Letter of Acceptances and Returns (LoAR) that lists the dates of upcoming decision meetings, which Letters will be considered at those meetings, important rulings by the Sovereigns, rules changes, news relevant to heralds in the Society, and current addresses for sending payments and submissions packets. In the past, it also included roster changes but that function has been superseded by OSCAR. See also Letter of Acceptances and Returns.

Da'ud Notation.

A special notation to represent characters outside the typical English alphabet and US-ASCII encoding. This notation is called Da'ud Notation, after its developer, Da'ud ibn Auda. See "Non-ASCII Symbols in the SCA Armorial Database" (http://heraldry.sca.org/daud_notation.pdf) for a list of recognized Da'ud representations.

Default.

Often used as an adjective meaning "standard, not needing to be blazoned," it may be applied to arrangement, orientation, or posture. See Table 5, Conventional SCA Default Postures, for a list of established defaults. See also Proper.

Descriptive Byname.

A byname that describes physical or mental characteristics, personality traits, or characteristic behavior. Little John, Ethelred the Unready, and Richard Gotobedde are all examples of names with epithets. The terms nickname and descriptive byname are also sometimes used. See also Epithet.

Designator.

The word used in a non-personal name to define the type of non-personal name. Designators may be the types of official branches, such as Barony, Shire, Kingdom, etc., or they may be other kinds of designations such as Order, Guild, House, Office, Pursuivant and so forth. Designators do not generally contribute to difference between non-personal names; in some cases they may do so with a Letter of Permission to Conflict. See SENA NPN1B for discussion of designators in greater detail.

Device.

A heraldic design that uniquely represents the person or group that owns it. A person who has not been awarded arms may register personal armory as a device. This device automatically becomes arms when the person receives an Award of Arms, Grant of Arms, or Patent of Arms. The distinction between arms and a device is not listed in the Ordinary and Armorial. The College of Arms does not treat them differently in any way. Only one device (potentially with augmentation) may be registered to a single person at one time; all other registered armory for that person consists of badges. See AH I.B for discussion of registration limits. See also Alternate Arms; Armiger; Arms; Badge.

Dictus.

A byname that describes another name the person is known by. John Brown, dictus le Tardif, and Marie dit Dessaint are examples of names with dictus style bynames. The terms cognomento, dit, and alias are also sometimes used. See also Byname.

Difference, Clear.

Obsolete. Under RfS, a term used regarding armory conflict. See Clear Difference. See also Distinct Change.

Difference, Significant.

Obsolete. Under RfS, a term used regarding name and armory conflict. See Significant Difference.

Difference, Substantial.

Obsolete. Under RfS, a term used regarding armory conflict. See Substantial Difference. See also Substantial Change.

Diminutive.

(1) In names, a name that is derived from another name as a shortened or pet form. Belet, Bibby, Ibbe, Ibbet, Libbe, and Tibota were all period diminutives of Isabel. Some diminutives are actually longer than the original name. For example Jobin is a period diminutive of Job and Josekyn is a period diminutive of Joss. (2) In armory, multiple and (usually) narrower variants of an ordinary are said to be diminutives of it. For example, two bars are diminutives of a fess, and two bendlets are diminutives of a bend. SCA armory does not use single diminutives of charges, as they were considered artistic variants of the single ordinary in period.

Distinct Change, DC.

In armory, a level of difference between two pieces of armory which can be used to clear conflict. A change which heralds in period would have considered to be a cadency step is usually a distinct change. Generally, two distinct changes are required to bring two pieces of armory clear of conflict. A distinct change is a lesser level of difference than a substantial change. For example, a pine tree is a distinct change from an oak tree because they have widely differing shapes, but they are not a substantial change from each other because they are both trees. In precedent, a ruling that a change is a distinct change (or DC) does not necessarily indicate whether or not the change is also a Substantial Change (SC). Distinct changes are more fully defined in SENA A5G. Under RfS, this level of difference was known as a Clear Difference (CD). See also Cadency; Substantial Change.

Documented.

A term indicating that evidence has been provided that an element or pattern is registerable by a submitter. This may include evidence that the element or pattern is found in period or that another reason such as the Existing Registration Allowance or Legal Name Allowance applies to this registration. On occasion, the evidence may indicate that the submission should not be registered. See also Attested; Constructed; Gray Area; Individually Attested Pattern; Period.

Documented Exception.

Obsolete. This term is not used in SENA; older rulings made under RfS used it. Under RfS, it was the rule which allowed one to document an armorial pattern that fell outside of the main RfS style rules. In SENA, it was replaced with the term Individually Attested Pattern. See also Individually Attested Pattern.

Dynamic.

A design arrangement that gives an impression of motion or activity. This can happen by posing charges so their apparent weight is not over their bases, such as in a depiction of a running man who is leaning forward so that his weight does not appear to be firmly supported by his feet. It can also happen if charges are unevenly spaced to give an impression of motion from one to the next. Dynamic is the opposite of static. In general, dynamic designs are not typical of period Core Style heraldry. See also Balance; Core Style; Static.

Element.

An element is, in a broad sense, the smallest part into which a name or armorial item can be divided. SENA GP4A has an expanded definition. See Name Element; Armorial Element.

Emblazon.

The drawing or visual depiction of a piece of armory. While the Ordinary and Armorial gives only the blazon, what the College of Arms officially registers is the emblazon. See also Blazon.

Epithet.

1) A descriptive byname. 2) A derogatory or offensive term or phrase. See also Byname; Descriptive Byname.

Ermined Tinctures.

These are a subset of the heraldic furs. There are many possible varieties of ermined tinctures, all based on the design of strewn ermine spots (abstract designs representing ermine tails). The most common are ermine (argent with sable ermine spots), counter-ermine (sable with argent ermine spots; also known outside the SCA as ermines, a term that is not used in the SCA due to the possibility of typographic errors), erminois (Or with sable ermine spots) and pean (sable with Or ermine spots). Other combinations do not have unique names and must be explicitly blazoned as ermined, e.g., gules ermined argent (gules strewn with argent ermine spots). Unlike other designs featuring strewn charges, the ermine variants are classed as separate tinctures in their own right, rather than as charged fields. However, the ermine spots must have good contrast with the tincture on which they are placed. Ermine spots can also be used as normal charges; if not in a strewn arrangement they are treated no differently from any other charges. See also Field Treatment; Furs; Semy; Tincture.

Errata Letter.

A letter included with some LoARs that rectifies minor problems with a prior LoAR, such as typos or missed name and armory connections. See also Letter of Acceptances and Returns.

Existing Registration Allowance.

The allowance for a submitter to use elements they have previously registered in new name or armory submissions, even if those elements are no longer acceptable under the current rules. On a case-by-case basis, this allowance has been extended to the submitter's immediate legal family. These provisions are described in SENA PN1B2g, NPN1C2g, and A2B3; a sample letter documenting legal relationship for purposes of the Existing Registration Allowance can be found in AH Appendix D. In some cases, the term Existing Registration Allowance refers to the guarantee in Corpora that, once registered, a name or piece of armory remains registered unless the owner requests its release, regardless of changes in the rules and standards applied to submissions after that time.

Field Primary Armory.

Armory that has no charges, or has only a peripheral ordinary (charged or uncharged). SENA A5F defines special conflict rules for this type of armory. See also Charge; Peripheral Charge Group.

Field Treatment.

A repeating pattern drawn in a tincture with good contrast over the field or a charge. Field treatments leave more of the underlying tincture showing than they cover. They are considered a part of the field or charge tincture. The term "field treatment" is not a standard real-world heraldic description for a class of armorial designs, but is the SCA catch-all term for the few period heraldic designs meeting this description. Field treatments include masoned and the forms of papellony and scaly that are drawn as voided scales. Field treatments do not include the ermined furs, fretty or strewn charges. See also Ermined Tinctures; Semy.

Fieldless Badge.

A badge with no specified field tincture; such badges may be displayed on any appropriate background. A badge without a field must be designed as a single unit, with the charges all connected in some way as if they were cast out of metal in a mold . However, charges which have disconnected parts as part of their definition, such as an ermine spot or the cross of Jerusalem, may be used in fieldless badges. Devices may not be fieldless. See also: Badge; Tinctureless Armory.

Fimbriation.

The practice of outlining a charge with a thin stripe of a tincture that has good contrast with the field, when the charge would otherwise have poor contrast with the field. In general, only central ordinaries and simple geometric charges such as a pale, roundel, or heart may be fimbriated, while a charge with a more complex outline such as a lion cannot. Fimbriation is only allowed for charges in the primary charge group. Note that some early registrations of fimbriated charges do not meet these requirements. See also Voidable Charge.

Furs.

In Society heraldry, the furs include ermine, counter-ermine, erminois, pean, vair, potent, and their variants. The furs also include the variants of scaly and papellony that consist of solid-tinctured scales of two alternating tinctures. While some heraldry texts treat furs as a third tincture type, the SCA does not. Furs composed equally of a metal and a color (e.g. vair) are considered neutral for contrast purposes. Furs that use a metal as the underlying tincture (e.g. ermine) are treated as metals for contrast. Furs that use a color as the underlying tincture (e.g. pean) are treated as colors for contrast purposes. See also Color; Ermined Tinctures; Metal; Neutral Tincture; Tincture.

Garden, Kingdom Garden.

Name given to the kingdom-level commentary sections of OSCAR. See also OSCAR.

Generic Identifier.

Descriptions that may be associated with registered items (mainly badges) to identify the use of that item. These are items which are considered too generic to be registered to a single person or branch, such as Brewer's Guild or Queen's Champion. Unlike registered names (award names, order names, guild names, household names, et cetera), generic identifiers are not registered as independent items and are not protected from conflict. See the December 2002 Cover Letter for additional examples.

Given Name.

The personal name or names given to a person at birth or in a naming ceremony such as baptism. In the English naming tradition, the given name is usually a person's first name, so Francis Drake's given name is Francis. Some naming traditions (for example, Hungarian) reverse this order, putting the given name last. See also Byname.

Glossary of Terms, GoT.

This document. It defines many heraldic terms as used in the SCA, both for heraldry itself and the registration process, and gives definitions of frequently misused terms. It also includes several tables of useful information, such as reserved regalia, reserved charges, restricted charges, defined proper colorings, and defined default postures and orientations. It is available on the Laurel website under "Rules". See also Administrative Handbook; List of Alternate Titles; Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory.

Grandfather Clause.

Obsolete. The term Grandfather Clause previously referred to the allowance for a submitter to use elements they had previously registered in new name or armory submissions. It has been superseded by the Existing Registration Allowance.

Grandfathered.

Obsolete. Something that is registerable through application of the Grandfather Clause. See Grandfather Clause.

Gray Area.

See Grey Period.

Gray Period.

See Grey Period.

Grey Area.

See Grey Period.

Grey Period.

For the purposes of documenting names and armory, anything that can be attested as late as 1650 may be considered acceptable, even though the official cut-off date of the SCA's domain as defined in Corpora is 1600. The period from 1601 to 1650 is known as the "gray area," and exists because it is logical to assume that something current in the period 1601-1650 may also have been current in the last years of the 16th Century, as long as there is no specific evidence to the contrary. See also Documented.

Group.

SENA generally avoids using this term for groups of people and instead refers to branches, orders, or households directly. Households, orders, and branches were all referred to as groups in RfS. See also Branch.

Group, Charge.

See Charge Group.

Half.

Many of the rules in SENA concerning armorial difference discuss a change made to half a charge group. For the purposes of counting armorial difference, half usually means 50% of the charge group, either counted as whole charges or 50% of each charge. However, in certain circumstances, half may be defined differently, as indicated in SENA A5C2d.

Hardship Clause.

It sometimes happens that a submission is delayed so long by circumstances outside the submitter's control that changes in SENA or precedent make it unregisterable. Depending on the exact circumstances, and on a case-by-case basis, the submission may be judged according to older rules and precedent; this policy is popularly known as the Hardship Clause.

Herald.

Used with a lowercase h, a herald is a person who works regularly on some aspect of heraldry. When used with a capital H, Herald is a title referring to a person of a particular heraldic rank in the College of Arms or in their kingdom's College of Heralds.

Heraldicon.

The June 1979 Laurel Meeting, published in an August 1979 LoAR. A meeting to consider a large submissions backlog at an all-weekend meeting. By the end of the weekend, the participants were getting tired and some decisions were made which, from our perspective and greatly expanded heraldic knowledge, seem questionable.

Hereditary Surname.

A byname passed to all the offspring in a family, and therefore also called a family name. Modern English surnames usually come last, so Francis Drake's surname is Drake. Other cultures may place their hereditary surnames in other positions in the name. The alternate term "Inherited Surname" is also used to refer to this type of byname. Hereditary surnames are often called simply surnames, but this usage is ambiguous and should be avoided. See also Byname.

Holding name.

A name that is created to allow the registration of armory when the accompanying name submission is returned. Only the Laurel Office, not kingdoms, may create holding names. See AH II.A.3 for more details.

Important Non-SCA Names and Armory.

Real-world or fictional names and armory that Laurel has designated important enough to protect. The standards for what is sufficiently important are found in AH III.A and III.B, and in SENA PN4D1, NPN4D1, and A6D. See also Protected Armory.

Identity Conflict.

A type of name conflict which arises when a submitted name is too similar to a registered SCA name. See also Conflict; Permission to Conflict; Presumption; Relationship Conflict.

Individually Attested Pattern, IAP.

One of the two sets of style rules described in SENA. These style rules require that items be documented as following a pattern of period practice within the armorial style of a single time and place within the temporal scope of the Society. This time and place may be in Europe or may be from a non-European period armorial tradition, such as Islamic or Japanese heraldry. An Individually Attested Pattern can be used to register armory that does not adhere to the Core Style, but is close to period examples of armory. Documentation of attested armory that is similar to the submission must be provided. Under RfS, these were called Documented Exceptions. The standards for Individually Attested Patterns are found in SENA A4. See also Attested; Core Style.

Intermediate Change.

While not a checkbox on the name forms, Intermediate Change is another option between Minor Change and Major Change. If manually noted on the name form, it means that the submitter "allows adding/deleting a word like 'de' or 'the' or changing language when the change is small." See also Major Change; Minor Change.

Laurel, Laurel Sovereign of Arms.

The principal heraldic officer of the Society and the head of the College of Arms. Laurel is ultimately responsible for seeing that the duties of the heralds, as defined in Corpora, are fulfilled. Sovereign of Arms is the gender-neutral term of rank for Laurel; a given individual in the office might also be styled as Laurel King of Arms or Laurel Queen of Arms. See also Pelican; Sovereign of Arms; Wreath.

Legal Name.

This term is used to distinguish the formal/official name of a person outside the Society from his or her Society name. In older rulings, may be referred to as Mundane Name.

Legal Name Allowance, LNA

The rule that allows submitters to use elements of their legal names in appropriate locations in name registrations. The details are given in SENA PN1B2e and NPN1C2e. In older rules and rulings, this was called the Mundane Name Allowance.

Letter of Acceptances and Returns, LoAR.

A monthly letter in which the Laurel Sovereign of Arms publishes decisions on recent submissions, listing those which were accepted, returned, and pended. They generally come with a Cover Letter and may also include an Errata Letter. In the past, they may also have included a Letter of Pends and Discussions, but those are now typically posted directly in OSCAR. The LoARs are available on the Laurel website: http://heraldry.sca.org/loar/. See also Accepted; Cover Letter; Errata Letter; Letter of Intent; Letter of Pends and Discussion; Pended; Returned.

Letter of Comment, LoC.

This term is no longer regularly used. In the days when Letters were sent by paper mail, it referred to a letter written by a member of the College of Arms to advise the Sovereign(s) of Arms on the registerability of recent submissions. It has been replaced by the threaded commentary system in OSCAR; however, OSCAR does offer an interface that displays all the commentary made by a specific College of Arms member during a given month and this is under the LoCs link. See also Letter of Intent; Letter of Response; Rules Letter; OSCAR.

Letter of Intent, LoI.

A letter written by a Principal Herald or a designated deputy to describe the submissions from their kingdom they believe are registerable. Since 2007, all Letters of Intent have been disseminated via OSCAR, rather than by paper mail. Two specialized types of Letters of Intent are the Letter of Intent to Protect (LoItP), and Letter of Intent to Unprotect (LoItU). These two types are Letters written by a member of the College of Arms describing names or armory that the author believes should receive or lose (respectively) protection as important non-SCA names or armory. In kingdoms that have an internal submissions process that uses a Letter, the internal Letter may be referred to as an Internal Letter of Intent (ILoI), a Kingdom Letter of Intent (KLoI), or Letter of Presentation (LoP); the external Letter sent to Laurel and the College of Arms may then be referred to as simply the Letter of Intent or, for in-kingdom purposes only, as an External Letter of Intent (ELoI or XLoI). See also Letter of Comment; Letter of Acceptances and Returns; Letter of Pends and Discussion; OSCAR.

Letter of Pends and Discussion, LoPaD.

A letter written by the Sovereigns of Arms to identify submissions which have been pended and issues that require discussion by the College of Arms. Letters of Pends and Discussion are processed similarly to Letters of Intent, including being posted directly on OSCAR; in the past, they were included with LoARs. See also Letter of Acceptances and Returns; Pended.

Letter of Response, LoR.

Obsolete. This term is no longer used, having been replaced by the threaded commentary system in OSCAR. When Letters were sent by paper mail, this term referred to a letter written to respond to commentary made on a particular kingdom's Letter of Intent. See also Letter of Intent; OSCAR.

Lingua Anglica, LA

Obsolete. This term is no longer used, but some older rulings used it; it has been replaced by Lingua Societatis. See Lingua Societatis.

Lingua Societatis, LS:

The translations of attested and constructed descriptive and locative bynames into standard modern language forms. See SENA PN1B2c for details with respect to personal names and SENA NPN1A1 for non-personal names.

Linguistic Variants.

Different spellings or pronunciations of the same word. In many times and places within the scope of the Society, some letters were relatively interchangeable when spelling words or names. Additionally, some languages were written in non-Latin characters, such as Cyrillic, and had multiple transliterations when written in Latin characters. Thus, a single name phrase or word may have several variant forms. To be registered, variants must be documented as plausible following the guidelines in SENA PN2B2a and NPN2B2a. Not all spelling variations are plausible.

List of Alternate Titles.

A portion of the SCA's heraldic rules and regulations. This document gives equivalents of SCA titles of rank in many languages. It is available on the Laurel website under "Rules". See also Administrative Handbook; Glossary of Terms; Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory.

Location.

The placement of a charge or group of charges on the field. For example, three roundels in fess are in a different location than three roundels in chief, although their arrangement remains the same. Also termed Placement and Position. See also Arrangement.

Locative Byname.

A type of byname referring to a geographical location. The reference may be to a specific place name, as in of York and Shropshire, or to a description of a physical feature of the location (sometimes called a toponym), as in atte Ford and Hill. In highly informal usage, occasionally just referenced as "locative". See also Byname; Placename; Toponym.

Maintained Charges.

Small objects that are held by an animate charge or touching an inanimate charge are said to be maintained, such as a lion rampant maintaining a sword. Further details about maintained charges are described in SENA Appendix I. See also Charge Group; Sustained Charges.

Major Change.

Used in the name registration process to describe a degree of change that the submitter may allow or refuse to allow to be made to the submitted name in order to make it registerable. Major changes include dropping an element or phrase, changing the order of the name elements, and changing the language of an element in a way that introduces a spelling change. Replacing the original documentation for an element with documentation of the element in another language, as long as the spelling has not changed, is not considered to be a major change. See also Intermediate Change; Minor Change.

Matronymic.

A byname given to offspring to indicate the name of the mother. The daughter of a Yorkshirewoman named Rose might take the matronymic Rosedoghter. Similarly, in Arabic, the son of a woman named Laylā might use the byname ibn Laylā. This term is sometimes spelled "metronymic". See also Byname; Patronymic.

Metal.

Metals in SCA heraldry are a subset of tincture. The metals are argent and Or. Furs that use metals as underlying tinctures, such as ermine and erminois, are treated as metals for contrast. By convention, the tincture Or is capitalized in SCA blazons. See also Color; Furs; Neutral Tincture; Tinctures.

Minor Change.

A term used in the name registration process to describe a degree of change that the submitter may allow or refuse to allow to be made to the submitted name in order to make it registerable. Minor changes include accents, punctuation, hyphenation, addition or deletion of a letter, changes between uppercase and lowercase, etc. See also Intermediate Change; Major Change .

Modern.

For Society purposes, "modern" is anything after 1600 A.D. See also Period; Gray Area.

Modest Proposal.

For many years, the College of Arms protected all known armory from conflict, including non-SCA historical, modern, and fictional. The Modest Proposal, implemented in 1996, restricted the protection of non-SCA armory to national arms, national flags, and a limited subset of other non-SCA armory. Such non-SCA armory that is still protected is added to and listed in the Ordinary and Armorial of the College of Arms. See also Letter of Intent (specifically Letter of Intent to Protect/Unprotect).

Mon.

Japanese armorial insignia. The SCA allows mon-like designs only if they can be blazoned in European heraldic terms; in some cases, the non-European charge name may be used, such as a torii gate. They may need to be documented as Individually Attested Patterns. See also Individually Attested Pattern.

Monster.

A heraldic monster is any creature used in heraldry that does not exist outside the imagination. Monsters may either be clearly invented, such as the griffin, or a confused interpretation of a genuine animal, such as the heraldic tyger.

Mundane Name Allowance.

Obsolete. This term is no longer used, but some older rulings used it; it has been replaced by the Legal Name Allowance. See Legal Name Allowance.

Name, Alternate.

See Alternate Name.

Name Element.

A part of a name. A name element is usually a single word, such as a given name or an adjective in a descriptive byname, but may also be a part of a word. A name phrase is made up of name elements; while these terms are sometimes used interchangeably, they help to distinguish issues involving the construction of words from issues of the construction of appropriate grammatical phrases. For example, in the name Richard le Bakere, Bakere and le are name elements, while the byname le Bakere is a name phrase. For example, in the byname Bjarkadottir, Bjarka- is one element and –dottir is another, while the byname as a whole is a name phrase. See SENA PN1 for a discussion of compatible name elements. See also Element; Name Phrase.

Name, Legal.

See Legal Name.

Name Phrase.

A component of a name, such as a given name or a byname. It can be a single word, such as a given name or byname, or a collection of words that are grammatically linked and together serve as a byname. This may include, for example, an article and its noun such as the Smith, a preposition and its object such as of York, or an adjective and the noun it modifies such as White Horse. A name phrase is made up of name elements; while these terms are sometimes used interchangeably, they help to distinguish issues involving the construction of words from issues of the construction of appropriate grammatical phrases. For example, in the name Miguel de la Torre, Torre is a name element, while the byname de la Torre is a name phrase. The required designator in household and Society order names is a name phrase. See SENA PN1B and NPN1B for discussion of compatible name elements for name phrases. See also Name Element.

Name, Primary.

See Primary Name.

Name, Society.

See Primary Name.

Name, Use.

See Use Name.

Neutral Tincture.

A term used to refer to fields or charges equally divided of a color and a metal, including some furs such as vair. Elements that are neutral are generally considered to have good contrast with colors and metals so long as they do not share any tincture. For example, a field per pale sable and argent has good contrast with a bordure gules, but not with a bordure sable. See also Color; Fur; Metal; Tincture.

Obtrusively Modern.

For armory, a design that makes an overt reference to modern insignia or designs. For names, something that makes a modern joke or reference that destroys medieval ambiance and drags the average person mentally back to the present day. See SENA A3F3 for a discussion with respect to armory, SENA PN2E for personal names, and SENA NPN2D for non-personal names.

Occupational Byname.

A byname indicating the bearer's occupation, such as Smith or Fleshewer (for a butcher). See also Byname.

Onomastic.

Of or related to the study of names.

For armory, a design that makes an overt reference to modern insignia or designs. For names, something that makes a modern joke or reference that destroys medieval ambiance and drags the average person mentally back to the present day. See SENA A3F3 for a discussion with respect to armory, SENA PN2E for personal names, and SENA NPN2D for non-personal names.

One-Half.

See Half.

Ordinary.

(1) A simple geometric charge. Although different lists of ordinaries may be found in heraldic texts, in SCA heraldry the term denotes those simple geometric figures that pass through the center of the field and terminate at the edge of the field (the pale, fess, bend, bend sinister, chevron, cross, saltire, pall, and pile), their diminutives, and the simple geometric additions to the edges of the field (such as the chief and bordure). (2) A list of pieces of armory, organized by charge type. See also Armorial; Ordinary and Armorial; Peripheral Ordinary.

Ordinary and Armorial, OandA, O&A.

A combined Ordinary and Armorial; almost always in reference to the main Society combined Ordinary and Armorial, which can be found at http://oanda.sca.org/. See also Armorial; Ordinary.

Orientation.

The direction a charge faces and the direction its axis runs. For example, swords by default have a palewise orientation, with point to chief and the length of the sword vertical on the shield. Other examples of orientation include bendwise, fesswise, inverted, and reversed. Orientation is sometimes confused with arrangement; arrangement refers to relative placement of more than one charge with respect to each other while orientation refers to the angle of a charge or charges with respect to the field. The rules regarding difference for posture or orientation are given in SENA A5E5 and A5G7. See also Arrangement; Posture.

OSCAR, the Online System for Commentary And Response.

In 2007, OSCAR replaced the old system of paper Letters used by the members of the College of Arms. Some older Letters of Intent and Letters of Comment can be found in OSCAR from the transition period. In 2011, OSCAR was expanded to allow for internal Letters in kingdom "gardens" as well as external Letters. See also Garden; Letter of Intent; Letter of Comment.

Overall Charge.

A charge (or group of charges) which crosses the center of the field, lying partially on the field and partially on other charges. For instance, Or, a lion rampant purpure and overall a fess sable has the fess starting on the field on one side, crossing over the center of the lion, and lying on the field on the other side. An overall charge is considered to lie directly on the field, and must have good contrast with it. An overall charge can never be the primary charge; in addition, there can only be a single overall charge group. Non-SCA heraldry sometimes uses different terms ("surmounted", "overall", "surtout") depending on the number of charges overlain. However, regardless of the number of charges, the SCA commonly uses "overall" though "surmounted" is also used. In SCA blazon the terms are interchangeable. Further details about Charge Group Theory are described in SENA Appendix I. See also Charge Groups.

Partition.

A division of the field or of a charge into pieces that have different tinctures. Some partitions follow the orientation and major axis of and are named after ordinaries, like per pale, per fess, per bend, and per saltire; others have their own names, like checky, gyronny, lozengy, and quarterly.

Patronymic.

A byname given to offspring to indicate the name of the father. For example, the son of an Irishman named Brian might use the patronymic mac Briain. See also Byname; Matronymic.

Pelican, Pelican Sovereign of Arms.

A deputy of the Laurel Principal Sovereign of Arms at the Society level. Pelican currently makes decisions on name submissions; however, in one tenure, Pelican handled administrative duties. Sovereign of Arms is the gender-neutral term of rank for Pelican; a given individual in the office might also be styled as Pelican King of Arms or Pelican Queen of Arms. See also Laurel; Wreath.

Pended.

When a Sovereign of Arms is considering a submission from a Letter of Intent, but decides that an aspect of the submission must be put before the College of Arms for further commentary, the Sovereign pends the item. This can be either because the Letter of Intent has an error, such as incorrect summary of checkboxes, or because an issue was raised in commentary that must be resolved before the pended submission may be considered. When a Letter of Intent is in error, submissions will only be pended if the reason for pending it can be described succinctly in the Letter of Acceptance and Return; an omitted or misleading emblazon is grounds for return. Pended items are published on the Letter of Acceptance and Return with a description of the reason for pending it. They are put into OSCAR in a Letter of Pends and Discussion and they may be commented on like a Letter of Intent. Occasionally, an item may be pended for a shorter period. For example, if a debate on a rule change is ongoing, and a submission arrives that would be affected by the rule change, it may be pended until the rule decision is made. See also Accepted; Letter of Acceptance and Return; Letter of Pends and Discussion; Returned.

Period.

A term used to refer to the temporal scope of the Society, which is pre-17th century. This is described more fully in SENA GP3. See also Attested; Documented; Grey Period.

Peripheral Ordinary.

A charge or group of charges that are placed on the field near the edge of a piece of armory without affecting the rest of the design. Peripheral ordinaries include (but are not limited to): the chief, the bordure, the base (including the point pointed), the quarter, the canton, the gyron, the orle, the double tressure, and flaunches. Peripheral ordinaries are a type of secondary charge group and can never be part of a primary charge group. SENA Appendix I discusses peripheral ordinaries as a type of charge group in more detail. See also Field Primary Armory; Ordinary; Primary Charge Group; Secondary Charge Group; Semy; Tertiary Charge Group.

Permission to Conflict, PtC.

The owner of any registered item may allow the registration of a specific, non-identical submission that would otherwise conflict by writing a letter of permission to conflict, or may direct Laurel to reduce the level of protection of that item with a blanket letter of permission to conflict. Permission to conflict can be granted for either name or armory submissions. Provisions for permission to conflict are detailed in AH III.C.3 and III.4, and a sample letter of permission to conflict can be found in AH Appendix D. See also Blanket Letter of Permission to Conflict; Conflict; Permission to Claim Relationship.

Permission to Claim Relationship.

The owner of any registered item may allow the registration of a specific, non-identical submission that would otherwise have a relationship or affiliation conflict by writing a letter of permission to claim relationship. This allows a person to claim a close relationship to someone whose name or armory is already registered. Provisions for permission to claim relationship are the same as those for permission to conflict and are detailed in AH III.C.3 and III.4, and a sample letter of permission to claim relationship can be found in AH Appendix D. See also Conflict; Permission to Conflict.

Permission to Presume.

Obsolete. This term is not used in SENA, but some older rulings made under RfS used it. Under RfS, claims of relationship were considered presumption, and required permission to presume. Under SENA, claims of relationship are considered conflict and require permission to claim relationship; permission cannot be obtained for items which are presumptuous. See also Permission to Claim Relationship; Presumption.

Persona Story.

As used in the College of Arms, the term refers to an attempt to justify a name or device combining elements from disparate cultures by reference to the persona's fictional biography. Submissions are evaluated on general rules and principles, including common cultural interactions. Because an undocumented fictional biography has no evidence of actual historical naming practices, persona stories are not considered in decisions.

Petition of Support.

A document used to indicate support by members of a branch for a branch name and/or arms submitted to Laurel for registration. The requirements for this document and who must sign it are described in AH IV.C.5.

Phrase.

See Name Phrase.

Place Name.

The name for a geographic area, such as the name of a town or region. In the Society, place names are the names of shires, baronies, principalities, kingdoms, and other official branches. SCA and real-world place names can be used to create locative bynames or as elements of other types of non-personal names. See also Locative Bynames.

Placement.

See Location.

Position.

See Location.

Posture.

The pose in which a beast or other animate charge is placed, such as rampant, passant, etc. Orientation is an aspect of posture. A partial list of postures and orientations for charges is found in SENA Appendix L and the rules regarding difference for posture or orientation are given in SENA A5E5 and A5G7. See also Arrangement; Orientation.

Precedent.

A decision published in an LoAR or Cover Letter by Laurel that may be applied to other similar submissions. Typically, a precedent arises from a specific submission; in some cases Laurel may call for a discussion that results in a precedent without a specific submission. Only expressly stated Laurel decisions should be considered precedents; registrations without comment do not necessarily set precedent. Newer precedents often overturn or supersede older precedents. Major revisions of the rules and standards frequently supersede precedents made under the older versions; for example, SENA Appendix C supersedes the lingual weirdness rulings made under RfS. The accumulated precedents of the Laurel office, filed by topic, are available through the Laurel web site at http://heraldry.sca.org/precedents.html but are not complete; for newer precedents, one must search the past LoARs directly.

Presumption.

Presumption is a claim of rank or power, and/or a claim of identity, relationship, or affiliation with a person or entity outside the SCA that we consider important enough to protect. Presumption can apply to both names and armory. Such a claim need not be intentional. Laurel does not allow registration of such items. In older rulings, presumption may also refer to claims of relationship or affiliation with SCA names, as under RfS, those were were considered presumption. Under SENA, such claims currently are considered Relationship/Affiliation Conflict. See also Affiliation Conflict; Conflict; Relationship Conflict.

Presumptuous.

Claiming more importance for oneself than one is due. Such a claim need not be intentional. A person who pretends to be entitled to special treatment or recognition because of status, rank, or abilities that the person does not hold or has not earned is presumptuous. Instances of presumption may also be described as presumptuous. See also Presumption.

Pretentious.

Obsolete. This term is no longer used, but some older rulings used it. See Presumption; Presumptuous.

Primary Charge Group.

The most important group of charges in a piece of armory. In blazons, the primary charge group is usually mentioned immediately after the field (though a strewn charge group is not primary when it is blazoned before a central charge group). If there is a central ordinary lying entirely on the field (and not overall), it is the primary charge. If there is no such central ordinary, then the primary charge group is the set of charges of roughly the same size that lie in the center of the design and directly on the field. Neither a peripheral ordinary nor an overall charge can be the primary charge. In any piece of armory with charges there will always be a primary charge group, unless the only charges are peripheral. There cannot be more than one primary charge group in any given design. Further details about Charge Group Theory are described in SENA Appendix I. See also Overall Charge Group; Peripheral Charge Group; Secondary Charge Group; Semy; Tertiary Charge Group.

Primary Name.

The name under which College of Arms records for a single person or entity, including armory registrations, are kept. Also known as Society Name. See also Alternate Name.

Principal Herald.

The chief heraldic officer of a kingdom, and a Great Officer of State in that kingdom. The Principal Herald is in charge of all heraldic activities within the kingdom.

Proper.

(1) A term used for a charge in its "natural" or "standard" tincture. A brown bear proper is entirely brown; a tree proper has a brown trunk and green leaves. Proper should not be used to indicate colorings that can be easily described in terms of the usual heraldic tinctures: a raven proper is better blazoned as a raven sable. The term "proper" may only be used when a normal person would be able to color the charge appropriately from only knowing the sort of charge with no further color description than possibly "brown" or "wooden". Some earlier registrations used Linnaean descriptions (scientific names of plants and animals) to more accurately identify what the charge was and allow its proper coloration to be determined; however, this has not been allowed for many years. (2) Indicates a standard set of tinctures for a standard heraldic charge, such as a sword proper, which has an argent blade and Or hilt and quillons, or a rose proper, which is a rose gules, barbed vert and seeded Or. See Table 4, Conventional Proper Colorings for a listing of proper tinctures defined in precedent.

Protected Armory.

Armory with which new Society armory may not conflict or presume. This includes armory that has been registered in the Society, as well as armory from outside the Society that is deemed important enough to protect. All protected armory is published in the Society Armorial and Ordinary, but is protected as soon as it is so identified and noted in a LoAR, and does not wait until the next publication of the Society Armorial and Ordinary to be protected. The list of protected armory from outside the Society may be modified to add or remove entries as further research directs. Non-SCA armory that is important enough to protect is protected even if it is unlisted—protection may be triggered by a submission which presumes. Protected armory is described in AH III.B. See also Armorial; Conflict; Important Non-SCA Armory; Letter of Intent; Ordinary; Presumption.

Quaternary Charge Group.

Charges on tertiary charges are known as quaternary charges. Quaternary charges are not registerable unless documented as an Individually Attested Pattern. For example, in Azure, on a chevron argent an escallop gules charged with a roundel Or, the chevron is primary, the escallop is tertiary, and the roundel is quaternary. Even if documented for an Individually Attested Pattern, quaternary charges do not count towards a Distinct Change or Substantial Change under SENA. See also Individually Attested Pattern; Tertiary Charge Group.

Regional Style.

Obsolete. This term is not used under SENA. Under RfS, it was a type of documented exception for armory. In SENA, it was folded into the term Individually Attested Pattern. See Documented Exception; Individually Attested Pattern.

Registerable.

Something that meets the standards for registration. A name may be said to be "registerable but not authentic." This simply means that it doesn't meet the more stringent requirement for authenticity. See also Authentic; Registration.

Registrable.

Varient spelling. See Registerable.

Registration.

Acceptance by the Sovereigns of Arms of a piece of armory or name for future protection. The College of Arms will only register items it believes are compatible with period names and armory, are not offensive or presumptuous, and do not conflict with or presume upon items already protected. The Administrative Handbook defines the types of items that can be registered. SENA describes the standards used by the College of Arms to determine registerability. Registered items are protected from conflict and presumption with other proposed names and armory to the best ability of the College of Arms as soon as the LoAR is released.

Relationship Conflict.

A type of name conflict which arises when a submitted personal name makes an unmistakable claim that the submitter is a close relative of someone with a registered personal SCA name. See also Affiliation Conflict; Conflict; Identity Conflict; Permission to Claim Relationship; Presumption.

Required Charges.

Branch arms are required to incorporate certain charges in the design (i.e. a laurel wreath, and in some circumstances a crown). These required charges are only for branch arms and are neither required nor allowed for branch badges. The requirements are listed in AH II.E.1. See also Reserved Charges; Restricted Charges.

Reserved Charges.

Some charges are specifically reserved in the Society for use by particular groups or classes of individuals. Examples of these include the coronet with strawberry leaves reserved to dukes and duchesses, the circle of chain reserved to knights, or the laurel wreath reserved to Society branches. These charges are listed below in Table 2, Reserved Charges.

Restricted Charges.

Some charges are so closely associated with royal families or specific honors outside the Society that they may not be used in Society armory at all. Examples of these include Azure semy-de-lys Or used by the kingdom of France, a Chinese Dragon with five toes used only by Chinese Emperors, or a Tudor Rose. Others have acquired such negative connotations that their registration may cause offense to a significant portion of the population. An example of such is the swastika, because of its association with the Nazis. Such charges are listed below in Table 3, Restricted Charges.

Resubmission.

When a name or piece of armory is returned for further work, a submitter may submit a new name or piece of armory, addressing the reasons for return. A resubmission may be similar in style or design to the original submission, but such a relationship is not required. See also Returned; Submission.

Returned, Returns.

In a Letter of Acceptances and Returns, the items on Letters of Intent that were considered at the meetings, but that the Sovereigns ruled could not be registered, are listed in a section currently headed "The following items have been returned for further work" and are said to be "returned". See also Accepted, Letter of Acceptances and Returns, Pended.

Rule of Tincture.

The requirement that good contrast must exist between the field and the charges upon it, as well as between a charge and the charges on it. See SENA A3B for information about contrast requirements. See also Color; Contrast; Metal.

SCA.

See Society for Creative Anachronism.

SCA-Compatible.

Obsolete. This term is no longer used, but some older rulings used it. In older rulings, it applied to elements of submissions that, to the best of our knowledge, were not used in period but that were declared registerable on the basis of their great popularity, such as compass stars or the name Rhonwen. The use of an SCA-compatible element was considered to be a Step from period practice or (in even older rulings) a "weirdness". SCA-Compatible names were entirely disallowed on the May 2008 LoAR Cover Letter. See also Step From Core Practice; Step From Period Practice; Weirdness.

Secondary Charge Group.

A group of charges on the field around the primary charge group. A design may have more than one secondary charge group. In Gules, a pale between two mullets argent, the mullets are the secondary charge group. The secondary charges in Or, a maunche between three roundels azure are the roundels. In Sable, a chevron cotised argent between three millrinds Or there are two secondary charge groups, the cotises and the millrinds. In Per chevron argent and sable, two roses and a fleur-de-lys counterchanged and on a chief purpure three hearts argent, the chief is the only secondary charge group. A peripheral charge group is a type of secondary charge group. Further details about Charge Group Theory are described in SENA Appendix I. See also Charge Group; Peripheral Charge Group; Primary Charge Group; Semy; Tertiary Charge Group.

Semy, Semé.

An adjective meaning something is strewn with identical charges. A field Azure semy-de-lys Or is blue with a pattern of gold fleurs-de-lys on it. A bordure vert semy of rowels argent is green and is charged with several (at least five and usually eight) white rowels evenly spaced around it. The charges so used are called strewn charges. When placed directly on the field, strewn charges are considered a separate charge group from any other charges, except when on only half of a divided field without any more prominent charges where the other half contains primary charges. Strewn charges may be considered the primary charge group if there are no other charge groups present or if the only other charge groups present are peripheral charge groups. When placed on another charge, strewn charges are considered a tertiary charge group. Strewn charges are not considered a field treatment. Ermine spots in an ermined tincture are not considered strewn charges; they are considered part of a separate tincture. Further details about Charge Group Theory are described in SENA Appendix I. See also Ermined Tinctures; Field Treatment; Peripheral Charge Group; Primary Charge Group; Tertiary Charge Group.

Significant Difference.

Obsolete. This term is not used in SENA, but some older rulings under RfS used it. (1) In armory, it was equivalent to a Clear Difference. (2) In names, it was a level of difference that rendered two name phrases distinguishable both in sound and appearance. See also Cadency; Clear Difference; Distinct Change; Substantial Difference.

Slot Machine Heraldry.

The popular name given to the rule in SENA A3D2a, which states "a charge group with more than two types of charges is not allowed." In Argent, in fess a cherry gules, a bell sable, and a lime vert, there are three types of charges (cherry, bell, and lime) in the primary charge group; in Argent, two lions combattant and a sword and axe crossed in saltire, there are also three types of charges (lion, sword, and axe) in the primary charge group. Neither of these is registerable under Core Style. See also Core Style.

Society for Creative Anachronism, SCA, the Society.

In some contexts, the term refers to the entire structure, including the top-level Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc., all corporations under it, and all branches. In some contexts, the term refers specifically to the top level corporate structure, but not to lower levels (for example, in "Laurel is a Society officer").

Society Name.

See Primary Name.

Sovereign of Arms.

Sovereign of Arms is the gender-neutral term of rank for Laurel or one of their two chief deputies; a given individual Sovereign of Arms might also be styled a King of Arms or a Queen of Arms. See Laurel; Pelican; Wreath.

Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory, the Standards, SENA.

A portion of the SCA's heraldic rules and regulations. It lists the standards used by Laurel and the College of Arms to evaluate submissions of names and armory "to ensure that it is period within the framework that these Rules requires, does not conflict with other registered items, and is not presumptuous or offensive" . It is available on the Laurel website under "Rules". See also Administrative Handbook; Glossary of Terms; List of Alternate Titles.

Static.

In a design context, this means all the elements appear fixed and unmoving. Heraldic postures usually appear to place the weight of any beast firmly on its feet and the body posed unnaturally in a stiff position. Designs are balanced around the center of the shield so that the design looks rigid. Static designs are typical of period Core Style heraldry. The opposite of static is dynamic. See also Balance; Core Style; Dynamic.

Step From Core Practice, SFCP.

This term refers to the idea that while certain armorial elements were not used in period core style armory, as defined in SENA A2 and A3, they are close enough to period elements as to be allowed for use or have been declared registerable in the past on the basis of their great popularity in the SCA. For example, while we have many examples of mullets in period armory, we have not yet found any period heraldic examples of the similar compass star, and so the compass star is a step from core practice. Only one SFCP is allowed in a single piece of armory; the use of two or more SFCPs in a single armorial submission is grounds for return. There are no steps from core practice for names under SENA. SENA A2B4 describes steps from core practice in armory in more detail and SENA Appendix G lists some charges and motifs that have been designated a SFCP. See also Core Style; SCA-Compatible; Step From Period Practice; Weirdness.

Step From Period Practice, SFPP.

Obsolete. This term was replaced by step from core practice of the February 2021 Cover Letter. See also SCA-Compatible; Step From Core Practice; Weirdness.

Strewn Charges.

See Semy.

Style.

The way elements are combined to form a complete name or armory submission.

Submission.

A name or piece of armory that is presented to the College of Arms for registration.

Submitter.

The person who presents a submission to the College of Arms for registration.

Substantial Change, SC.

(1) In armory, a level of difference that would have been considered by heralds in period to be larger than a cadency step; in most cases, this is a sufficient amount of difference to clear conflict. A substantial change is a greater level of difference than a distinct change. For example, a pine tree is substantially changed from a lion, but not from an oak tree. In precedent, a ruling that a change is a distinct change (or DC) should not necessarily be taken to indicate that the change is not a substantial difference. (2) In names, two name phrases are substantially different if they are readily distinguishable both in sound and appearance. Substantial changes in names are more fully defined in SENA PN3 and NPN3, while substantial difference in armory is more fully defined in SENA A5—specifically A5E and A5F. See Cadency; Distinct Change; Clear Difference; Substantial Difference.

Substantial Difference, X.2 Difference.

Obsolete. This term is not used in SENA, but some older rulings made under RfS used it. In armory, it referred to a level of difference (usually of charge type) that would have been considered by heralds in period to be more than a cadency step, needed to apply certain sections of the rules. For example, a lion was substantially different from a sun. In precedent, a ruling that a change was a Clear Difference (CD) or Significant Difference should not necessarily be taken to indicate that the change was not also a Substantial Difference. Most changes which were a substantial difference under RfS are worth an SC under SENA; however, the reverse is not true. See also Cadency; Distinct Change; Substantial Change; Clear Difference; Significant Difference.

Substantive Element.

That part of the name that is specific to the item being submitted. For example, in Order of the Pelican, the substantive element is Pelican. See SENA NPN1A for discussion of substantive element in greater detail. See also Designator.

Supported Charges.

See Sustained Charges.

Surname.

See Hereditary Surname.

Sustained Charges.

Large objects that are held by an animate charge are often said to be sustained, such as a lion rampant sustaining a polearm. Further details about sustained charges are described in SENA Appendix I. See also Charge Group; Maintained Charges.

Sword and Dagger.

The popular name given to the rule in SENA A3D1 that disallows the use of similar but non-identical charges together on the field or in the same charge group. In Gules, a talbot and a wolf combattant argent the talbot and the wolf are both on the field, and are similar but not identical; therefore this design violates the rule. The rule also disallows the use of the same charge in a primary and secondary group. In Gules, a mullet and in chief three mullets Or, both groups of mullets are on the field; therefore this design violates the rule. Conversely, in Gules, a mullet and on a chief Or three mullets gules the rule is not violated, as the two groups of mullets are not both on the field.

Tertiary Charge Group.

Any group of charges placed entirely on other charges that are themselves placed on the field. Tertiary charges in a group may be together, such as three charges on a chief, or may each be on members of the same charge group. Per chevron argent and sable, two roses and a fleur-de-lys counterchanged and on a chief purpure three hearts argent has one group of tertiary charges—the three hearts on the chief. Gules, a chevron between three roses Or, each charged with a cross fitchy sable has one group of tertiary charges - the crosses on the roses. Or, on a fess gules an escallop between two millrinds Or, all within a bordure vert charged with eight roundels argent has two groups of tertiary charges - one group with the escallop and millrinds on the fess and the other with the roundels on the bordure. Further details about Charge Group Theory are described in SENA Appendix I. See also Peripheral Charge Group; Primary Charge Group; Semy.

Tincture.

One of the seven standard colors and metals or several furs used in Society armory. The plain tinctures are the colors azure, gules, purpure, sable, and vert and the metals argent and Or. Furs include the ermined furs and vair, potent, scaly, papellony, and their variations. By convention, the tincture Or is capitalized in SCA blazons. See also Color; Ermined Tinctures; Fur; Metal.

Tinctureless Armory.

Armory with no specified tinctures at all; such badges may be displayed on any appropriate background and in any plain tincture. While a few items of tinctureless armory were registered in the early days of the SCA, currently the only new tinctureless armories which will be registered are Principal Heralds' Seals. See also: Badge, Tincture.

Title.

(1) A form of address that indicates the rank of the person using it. The Society has formally reserved the titles found in Appendix C of the AH and their equivalents in languages other than English. These titles may only be used as authorized in Corpora. (2) In the SCA, a heraldic title is either the name of a heraldic office (such as Pelican or Wreath) and is unrelated to rank outside the College of Arms or is a personal heraldic title (reserved for heralds with the heraldic rank of Herald Extraordinary). See also Herald; Laurel; Pelican; Wreath.

Toponym.

A type of byname referring to a geographical location. The reference is a description of the physical geography, as in atte Ford and Hill. See also Byname; Locative Byname; Placename.

Type, Charge.

See Charge Type.

Use Name.

Generally a subset of a person's legal name. For example, John Paul Smith is considered to have the use names John Smith, Paul Smith, John Paul, and John Paul Smith. Names registered by the College of Arms must not be identical to a submitter's legal name or any use name.

Variants, Linguistic.

See Linguistic Variants.

Voidable Charge.

A charge that can be voided; that is, have the middle cut out, allowing the field or other tincture to show through. The cut-out portion should both be of the same shape as the charge and follow along the outline of the charge. Only ordinaries and simple geometric charges such as a pale, roundel, or a heart are voidable and only when they are part of a primary charge group, while a charge with a more complex outline such as a lion is not. Only charges in the center of the field may be voided, excepting charges that are voided as part of their nature, such as mascles, rustres, and mullets of five and six points voided and interlaced. Some earlier registrations have voided or fimbriated complex charges and/or voided non-primary charges; however, this has not been allowed for many years. See also Fimbriation.

Weirdness.

Obsolete. This term has been replaced with the phrase "step from period practice", but appears in some older rulings. See also SCA-compatible; Step From Core Practice; Step From Period Practice.

Wreath, Wreath Sovereign of Arms.

A deputy of the Laurel Principal Sovereign of Arms at the Society level. Wreath currently makes decisions on armory submissions. Sovereign of Arms is the gender-neutral term of rank for Wreath; a given individual in the office might also be styled as Wreath King of Arms or Wreath Queen of Arms. See also Laurel; Pelican; Sovereign of Arms.

Where color is not specified, all colors and metals are reserved.

Where color is not specified, all colors and metals are reserved.

The following charges may not be used in heraldry registered in the Society.

Most monsters, e.g., griffins, unicorns, sea-lions, etc., being mythical creatures, have no "proper" coloration. Natural animals which are frequently found as brown but also commonly appear in other tinctures in the natural world may be registered as a brown [animal name] proper (e. g., brown hound proper, brown horse proper). Items where "proper" is defined as brown may be blazoned simply "X proper" rather than "brown X proper" (e.g., acorn proper, bread proper, hare proper) or "wooden X proper" (e.g., doumbek proper, harp proper).

Note: Prior to the May 2021 Cover Letter, charges that were grey proper were classified as either a metal or a color based on the shade. Therefore, they were defined as either light grey or dark grey. The current standard is to classify them as a metal or color based not on their shade but on what is most favorable for registration. Generally, that means that when on a color grey proper is considered a metal and when on a metal grey proper is considered a color. See SENA A3B1 for further details.

In general, the end of a charge that is to chief when the charge is palewise will be to dexter when the same charge is placed fesswise (as if rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise). A sword fesswise, for example, has its point to dexter, and an arrow fesswise has its feathers to dexter. The most common exception is the (quill) pen: when palewise, it has its nib to base, but when it is fesswise, the nib is to dexter.

Named motifs are blazon shorthand. Each kingdom may have a single named motif that is fixed and generally unchangeable. A person does not need to reside in a specific kingdom to use the named motif. Also, named motifs (blazon shorthand) will only be used on request. See the November 2020 Cover Letter (http://heraldry.sca.org/loar/2020/11/20-11cl.html) for more details.

Note: Period practice regarding capitalization of named motifs indicates that it was optional at the moment of use. This table shows only a single version of word order and capitalization. Regardless of how capitalization and word order is recorded by the Laurel office, it should not be viewed as prescriptive. Scribes are encouraged to mimic the practices of their own references, and their sense of euphony of the text. See the Cover Letter for more information.

Above.

An ambiguous term which should be avoided in blazon. Generally, two charges one of which is "above" the other on the field can be blazoned as in pale or an X and in chief a Y. See also Atop.

Atop.

Said of a charge which is conjoined to another charge to base, e.g. a falcon perched atop a gauntleted cubit arm fesswise is in pale a falcon conjoined at the feet to a gauntleted cubit arm fesswise. See also Above, Upon.

Bendwise sinister.

Lying diagonally across the field from sinister chief to dexter base. Frequently misblazoned as "bend sinisterwise", bendwise indicates the angular orientation, and sinister modifies that orientation.

Contourny.

Often used to describe an animate charge facing to sinister, so that a lion rampant contourny is a lion rampant to sinister. There is no "e" in contourny (the French usage is contourné(e), depending on the gender of the noun being modified). See also Reversed.

Cross.

The plural of cross crosslet is crosses crosslet.

Dancetty.

Applies only to a two-sided ordinary (such as a pale or fess) which zig-zags or "dances" across the field. Indeed, a fess dancetty may be blazoned simply as a dance. Modern non-SCA heraldic treatises define dancetty as a larger version of indented, but period blazons do not make this distinction. See also Indented.

Enflamed.

A charge which has small gouts of flame issuing from it. See also On a flame.

Feather.

The feather of a bird. See also Quill pen, Quill.

Fleur-de-lys.

The plural of fleur-de-lys is fleurs-de-lys.

Formy.

Term applied to certain crosses with splayed limbs, used in preference to the more ambiguous term paty. See also Paty.

Indented.

Applies to a line of division which zig-zags across the field, e.g., per fess indented, a chief indented. Victorian and modern non-SCA heraldic treatises define indented as a smaller version of dancetty, but period blazons do not make this distinction. See also Dancetty.

On.

Said of a charge or group of charges which is placed entirely on other charges (tertiary charges); e.g., on a pale argent a sword gules; on a chief sable three escallops argent. See also Upon.

On a flame.

A charge completely surrounded by a flame is said to be on a flame. See also Enflamed.

Paty.

Term sometimes used which describes an entire family of crosses with splayed limbs, not used in SCA blazon. See also Formy.

Plurals.

The plural of [a charge name plus modifier] is always [charges plus modifier] (e.g., lion rampant/lions rampant; cross fleury/crosses fleury). See also Cross, Fleur-de-lys.

Principal.

"Most important; chief" (Webster's II New Riverside Dictionary). The principal herald of a kingdom is the Great Officer of State in charge of heraldry and the College of Heralds of that kingdom.

Principle.

"A rule or code of behavior" (Webster's II New Riverside Dictionary). The College of Arms expects the principal heralds to be of high principles.

Quill.

An heraldic term for a spool about which yarn or thread is wound. Also called Embroiderer's quill, Quill of yarn. See also Quill Pen, Feather.

Quill Pen.

A feather, the lower end of the quill of which has been cut into a nib. See also Quill, Feather.

Reversed.

Often used to describe an inanimate charge oriented the opposite of its default orientation along a horizontal axis; e.g., a sword fesswise reversed is a sword fesswise point to sinister; an arrow fesswise reversed is an arrow fesswise, point to dexter. (Non-SCA blazon uses reversed to describe what SCA blazon terms inverted; i.e., a charge turned upside down along the vertical axis of the shield.) See also Contourny.

Semy.

Semy is not a field treatment, but is a group of charges strewn across the entire field or portion of a divided field. It is not a noun: the correct usage is semy of [charges], not a semy of [charges].

Torteau/Torteaux.

Torteau is the singular, torteaux is the plural, for a roundel or roundels gules.

Upon.

An ambiguous term which should be avoided in blazon. See also On, Atop.

Wreath.

A wreath is a circular charge, with its chiefmost ends nearly touching. Two sprigs (straight branches) crossed to form a "V" is not a wreath. See the illustration below for a depiction of a laurel wreath.