gonfalon

English

A civic gonfalon.

Alternative forms

• gonfalone
• gonfanon

Etymology

From Middle English gonfalon, from Old French gonfalon, from Frankish *gunþifanō, from Proto-Germanic *gunþifanô.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑːn.fəˌlɑːn/, /-lən/

Noun

gonfalon (plural gonfalons)

1. A standard or ensign, consisting of a pole with a crosspiece from which a banner is suspended, especially as used in church processions, but also for civic and military display.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book CXXXVII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 588–590:

     Ten thousand thousand Ensignes high advanc'd,
     Standards, and Gonfalons twixt Van and Reare
     Streame in the Aire, and for distinction serve

   • 1910, July 12, Franklin Pierce Adams, poem “That Double Play Again” aka “Baseball's Sad Lexicon”, New York Evening Mail, page 6:

     Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,
     Making a Giant hit into a double—
     Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:
     “Tinker to Evers to Chance.”

   • 1922, Clark Ashton Smith, Quest‎^[1]:

     With vermilion leaf or bronze—
     Tatters of gorgeous gonfalons—

   • 1964, Jan Morris, “Four Cities”, in Spain, Faber and Faber, published 2008, →ISBN:

     It was in the queer little Church of Vera Cruz, beneath the castle, that the Knights Templar performed their secret rites of chivalry, standing vigil over their arms all night, in all the mysterious splendour of seneschal, gonfalon, and accolade.

2. (heraldry) Alternative form of gonfanon

Related terms

• gonfalonier

Translations

a standard or ensign

• Armenian: խաչադրոշ (hy) (xačʻadroš), զորադրոշ (hy) (zoradroš)
• Bulgarian: хоругва (bg) f (horugva)
• Catalan: gonfanó (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 神幡 (zh) (shénfān)

• Dutch: gonfalon m
• French: gonfalon (fr) m, gonfanon (fr) m
• Galician: gonfalón m
• Italian: gonfalone (it) m
• Old French: gonfalon m, gonfanon m
• Polish: chorągiew (pl) f, gonfalon (pl) m
• Portuguese: gonfalão (pt) m
• Russian: хору́гвь (ru) f (xorúgvʹ), зна́мя (ru) f (známja), гонфало́н m (gonfalón), гонфано́н m (gonfanón)
• Spanish: confalón (es) m

French

Alternative forms

• gonfanon

Etymology

Inherited from Old French gonfalon, from Frankish *gunþifanō, from Proto-Germanic *gunþifanô.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

gonfalon m (plural gonfalons)

1. gonfalon

See also

• bannière, drapeau, enseigne, étendard

Further reading

• “gonfalon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Old French

Alternative forms

• confanon, gonfanon

Etymology

From Frankish *gunþifanō, from Proto-Germanic *gunþifanô.

Noun

gonfalon oblique singular, m (oblique plural gonfalons, nominative singular gonfalons, nominative plural gonfalon)

1. gonfalon

Derived terms

• gonfalonier

Descendants

• French: gonfalon
• → Middle English: gonfalon
  • English: gonfalon
• → Italian: gonfalone
• → Middle Dutch: gonfaloen
  • Dutch: gonfalon, gonfalone

Further reading

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (gonfalon, supplement)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French gonfalon.

Noun

gonfalon n (plural gonfaloane)

1. gonfalon

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	gonfalon	gonfalonul		gonfaloane	gonfaloanele
genitive-dative	gonfalon	gonfalonului		gonfaloane	gonfaloanelor
vocative	gonfalonule			gonfaloanelor