Collective Nouns Project | Words In Motion

Saint Albans And His Never Thriving Jugglers

And A Rabble Of Bees.

The Collective Nouns Project is the brainchild of Karen Madej.

She invites us to select collective nouns that spark joy and write about them.

A collective noun refers to a group of people or things. We use some of them every day. Examples of common collective nouns are a gaggle of geese or a herd of elk.

Most people have heard of a murder of crows, though we don’t use the phrase much in day to day life.

‘There’s a murder of crows going after the baby robins in the garden!’

They can sometimes be surprising. Here are some fun ones I discovered in Karen’s article.

• a garrison of gophers (I see them all lined up in their foxholes.)
• a number of mathematicians (no other word would do)

Never-thriving jugglers was another one.

I confess, I’m a bit of an etymology nerd, so I had to look that one up.

The Etymology of never +‎ thriving jugglers.

This collective noun was found in a list of collective nouns in the Book of Saint Albans, published in 1486. Collective nouns were also called terms of venery or nouns of assembly.

Fun fact: These terms originated from a formal language that was developed by ‘respectable gentlemen’ to describe the ‘hunt’.

‘The hunt’.

It seems a group of respectable gentlemen coined the phrase “never-thriving jugglers” in the context of ‘the hunt’.

I can’t imagine a good way to connect these two facts in a logical way in my mind.

The word Juggling sparked my interest because one of our sons was a talented juggler in his late teens.

I was full of mixed feelings as I watched him perfect his skills. On the one hand, he loved it and was really good at it. On the other, I couldn’t see how it could turn into any kind of career for him.

The phrase ‘never-thriving jugglers’ was exactly how I felt about him making a career as a professional juggler.

It’s difficult to watch your teens struggle as they make their way in the world. It was a challenge for me to let go.

Here’s a short poem I wrote about finding your direction in life. It was distributed to #POETRY

Back to The Book of Saint Albans

In 1479, the third printing press in England was set up in a Benedictine monastery named St. Albans. Of course, they called it the St Albans Press.

A total of eight books were printed and they named the last one… wait for it… The Book of Saint Albans.

It was a collection of information about gentlemanly arts such as fishing, hunting, heraldry, and falconry.

Various other lists were included, such as a list detailing which bird would be most appropriate for which rank or profession of men.

Emperors were associated with the eagle, while the lowly ‘holy water boy’ was assigned a sparrow hawk.

I was fascinated to read that the hunting portion of the book was written by a woman named Dame Juliana Berners. The hunting section included the collective nouns, many of which survive today.

The Collective Nouns Project provides a link to a current glossary of a wide variety of collective nouns.

I’m excited to explore this glossary to discover more interesting collective nouns.