oriflamme

See also: Oriflamme

English

Alternative forms

• auriflamme, oriflamb (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old French oriflambe, oriflamme, from Medieval Latin auriflamma (“golden flame”), from Latin aurum (“gold”) + flamma (“flame”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɒɹɪflæm/

Noun

oriflamme (plural oriflammes)

1. (historical) The red silk banner of St Denis, which the abbot of St Denis gave to French kings as they rode to war in the Middle Ages.
   • 1988, Robert Irwin, The Mysteries of Algiers, Dedalus, published 1993, page 58:

     The white banner with the golden lilies of France has been unfurled. The oriflamme has been presented to the virginal bride who stands before the altar in the forest chapel.

2. (figuratively) Any banner, idea or principle which serves as a rallying point for those involved in a struggle.
   • 1824, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Ivry:

     And be your oriflamme to-day the helmet of Navarre.

   • [1963, Anthony Burgess, Inside Mr Enderby:

     Please remember that the vocabulary of our readers isn’t very extensive, so don’t go using words like ‘oriflamme’ or ‘inelectable’.]

3. (literary) Something resembling the banner of St Denis; a bright, shining object.
   • 1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, (please specify the book or page number):

     This is that famed Martial law, with its Red Flag, its 'Drapeau Rouge:' in virtue of which Mayor Bailly, or any Mayor, has but henceforth to hang out that new Oriflamme of his; then to read or mumble something about the King's peace; and, after certain pauses, serve any undispersing Assemblage with musket-shot....

   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     On the other side Mailey's yellow beard flamed like an oriflamme.

   • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle, Penguin, published 2011, page 96:

     Lucette trotted into the room with a child's pink, stiff-bagged butterfly-net in her little fist, like an oriflamme.

   • 1992, Marcel Proust, translated by C.K. Scott-Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin, edited by D.J. Enright, Swann's Way, Folio Society, published 2005, page 417:

     Open spaces made visible the approach to almost every one of them, or else a splendid mass of foliage stood out before it like an oriflamme.

Translations

Translations

• Catalan: oriflama f
• Danish: oriflamme
• Dutch: auriflamme, oriflamme (nl)
• French: oriflamme (fr) f
• German: Oriflamme (de) f
• Italian: orifiamma (it) f
• Marathi: ऑरिफ्लाम (ŏriphlām)
• Polish: oriflamme (pl)
• Portuguese: auriflama f, oriflamme (pt) f
• Russian: орифла́мма (ru) (oriflámma)
• Spanish: oriflama (es) f
• Welsh: eurfflam

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French oriflamme, orie flambe, from Medieval Latin auriflamma (“golden flame”), from Latin aurum (“gold”) + flamma.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɔ.ʁi.flɑm/, /ɔ.ʁi.flam/

Noun

oriflamme f (plural oriflammes)

1. (historical) oriflamme
2. banner, standard

   L’oriflamme de Jeanne d’Arc, une église pavoisée d’oriflammes.

   The banner of Jeane d'Arc, a church bedecked with banners.

Further reading

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

Old French

Etymology

[c. 1100, in the Chanson de Roland]

Attested as orie flambe, oriflambe. From Medieval Latin auriflamma (“golden flame”), from Latin aurum (“gold”) + flamma (“flame”).

Noun

oriflamme oblique singular, f (oblique plural oriflammes, nominative singular oriflamme, nominative plural oriflammes)

1. oriflamme

Descendants

• French: oriflamme
  • → English: oriflamme