humet

English

Etymology

Uncertain. The OED speculates that it might derive from Old French heaumet (whence helmet), a diminutive of heaume (“helm”) supposedly applied to the bar of it; however, compare the early (1600s) use of humet for a slab of stone or tombstone.

Noun

humet (plural humets)

(heraldry, rare) A fesse or bar cut off short at each end.
- 1725, James Coats, A New Dictionary of Heraldry, page 34:
  [...] who take their Name from Hameyde, one of the two and twenty Baronies of that Province; thus D'Or a trois Hameydes de Geules, that is, Or, three Humets Gules, or Bars couped;
- 1869, Shropshire Arms and Lineages, page 10:
  Sa., on a humet arg., a martlet arg. (or.) Creft : A martlet as in the shield. Confirmed (with 1 quartering) to Hugh Bostock, of Moreton Say, who m. Margaret, daug. of Thomas Lee, of Langley. Harl MS. Boteler.
- 1894, Henry Gough, James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry, page 336:
  The Humet is a term sometimes, but seldom, used for a fesse, or bar humetty, i.e. couped at each of the extremities. Or, three humets sable , charged with as many annulets argent—AMBROSE, Lancashire.

Alternative forms

humette, heumette

Adjective

humet (not comparable)

(heraldry) Humetté, couped.
Synonym: (plural) humets
- 1804, Alexander Nisbet, A system of heraldry, speculative and practical: with the true art of Blazon ... Illustrated with suitable examples of armorial figures, and achievements of the most considerable surnames and families in Scotland ..., page 47:
  [...] as Morgan in his Blazon of the Arms of Brabant, argent on a fesse humet gules, three leopards' heads or […]
- 1828, William Berry, Encyclopaedia Heraldica Or Complete Dictionary of Heraldry:
  erm. three bars humets or.
- 1847, John Burke, Encyclopaedia of Heraldry or general Armory of England, Scotland and Ireland, comprising a registry of all armorial bearings from the earliest to the present time, including the late grants by the college of arms: By John and John Bernard Burke:
  Sa, three bars humet ar.

Anagrams

mute h

Latin

Verb

humet

third-person singular present active subjunctive of humō