sarcelly

English

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman cercelé, recercelé ("curly, curled"), from Old French cercelé (compare cerceau (“hoop”)). Attested since at least 1500.^[1]

Adjective

sarcelly (not comparable)

(heraldry, of a cross) Having its end terminate in forked tips which curl around both ways, either like or else more pronounced than moline or anchory/ancré.
- 1828, William Berry, Encyclopaedia Heraldica, Or Complete Dictionary of Heraldry: Dictionary of Arms:
  […] ar. a bend, sarcelly, gu. betw. eight couped, ar. attired or. crosses, formée, sa.
- 1874, John Woody Papworth, An Alphabetical Dictionary of Coats of Arms Belonging to Families in Great Britain and Ireland, pages 609, 638:
  Az. billetty and a cross sarcelly arg. John MORYS, Y. Az. a cross sarcelly pierced arg. MELTON, Aston, co. York. […] Az. a cross anchory or. BEAURAIN. […] Vert a cross sarcelly indented az. betw. three crosses croslet fitchy or. EYMORE.
- 1894, Henry Gough, James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry, page 178:
  Ermine, a cross sarcelly sable - GODARD, Chester.
  Azure, crusilly a cross sarcelly disjoined or - KNOWLES, Earl of Banbury, ob. 1632. Argent, crusily gules a cross sarcelly sable - RALEIGH.
- 1897, W. K. R. Bedford, Blazon Episc. (ed. 2) 217:
  Gules, a cross sarcelly ermine.

Usage notes

Some English (and French) heralds gave this term, or some spellings of it (e.g. separating ones with -ar- from ones with -er-), any of a variety of other meanings: because crosses sarcelly were often borne voided, some writers took sarcelly or sarcelled or variants thereof to mean a cross was voided, with or without the ends being open (unconnected), or was "sawed or cut through the middle" (and the term was reportedly then applied to animals in this sense in some blazons), or "charged with a filet of the same form of another tincture" (like voided but with the filling being a different colour from the field), similar to the misinterpretation of cléché. Others took it to mean "engrailed", and in this sense it was reportedly applied to some bordures.^[2]^[3]

Alternative forms

recercelée, cercelée, sarcele, recercelé
(less common) cercelé, cercellé, cercellée, recercellé, recercellée, sarcellée
(obsolete) cercelly, sarcelé, sarcelée, sarcelie

Translations

French: cercelée, recercelée (fr)

References

references

^
NED: "Used to designate a variety of the cross moline in which the points are recurved or curled back."
- c 1500 Sc. Poem Heraldry 141 in Q. Eliz. Acad., etc. 99,
  xj crois fichye; xij sarsile fere.
^ *
1894, Henry Gough, James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry, page 493:
Recercelé : a term which seems to have been inconsistently used by later writers from not understanding its original meaning. It occurs in ancient blazon, as will be seen, applied only to the cross and the bordure. In its application to the cross the early instances have already been given under Cross, […] When we come to the roll, temp. Edward III. there are some four or five examples of a cross recercelée (see § 32), and we find recercelé also for the first time applied to the bordure, and as will be seen, in the same arms in which the bordure in the previous reign had been blazoned as indented: possibly recercilé was used in these later instances to signify engrailed, with reference to the half circles which form that line of partition. […] With respect to its application to the Cross, perhaps enough has been said to shew that the probabilities are it was a figure similar to, if not identical with, the cross moline, or the fer-de-moline, but with the extremities perhaps more bent round, as shewn in the illustration of the banner of Bishop BECK of Durham, from the Carlaverock roll under Cross, § 24, and again from the brass where a dimidiated coat of the BEKE family is impaled with the arms of HARCOURT […] English heraldic writers seem, however, to have made two words, recercele and sarcelly, and have implied that they are of different origin and meaning; but there is no agreement as to what those meanings were. The French heralds seem equally at fault. […] while a cross with its ends turned over, or a tail of an animal twisted, might be blazoned recercelée, a cross charged with a filet of the same form being of another tincture would be blazoned resercelée.
^ *
1914, Bradley, James Augustus Henry Murray, Murray, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles: Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by The Philosophical Society, page 108:
Sarcelled [...] a. Her. [Anglicized f. sarcelle, Sarcelly.] 1. = Sarcelly 2.
1688 R. Holme Armoury I. v. 49-50 A Cross double parted Voided Flory...It is like the Cross Moline Sawed, or cut into 4 quarters, and disposed at a convenient distance; And therefore may be fitly termed a Cross Moline Sarcelled. 1722 Nisbet Syst. Her. I. xv. 113 If the Voiding be of another Colour..than the Field, the Cross is then said to be charged with another Cross; for which our English Heraulds have some needless Terms, as Sarcelled and Resarcelled. 1828-40 Berry Encycl. Her. I, Cross pattée sarcelled at bottom in the form of a ᴧ reversed. Ibid., Cross double voided, by some called a cross voided sarcelled, or sarcelled resarcelled, that is double or twice sawed asunder. 1847 Parker's Gloss. Her. 101 Cross moline sarcelled, or voided throughout, cross recercelée or recersile, or recercelée voided or disjointed, which has also been called a cross fleury biparted.
2. = Sarcelly 3.
1828-40 Berry, Encycl. Her. I, Sarcelled, cut through the middle. Beasts and birds, thus cloven throughout, and the halves..endorsed..is no uncommon bearing in..Germany.
Sarcelly [...] a. Her. Forms: 6 sarsile, 6-7 (9) sarcele, 7 sarcelie, 8 cercilé, cercelly, 9 sarcel(l)é, 8- sarcelly, cercelée. Also erron. 9 sarcell. [a. AF. sercelé, cerselé = OF. cercelé hooped, ringleted, curled, pa. ppl. of cerceler, f. cercel (see Sarcel).
F. cercelé and recercelé (see Recercelé(e) were used synonymously in sense 1 (below). Beside these there was a F. resarcelé (see Resarcelée, of obscure origin) applied to a cross on which another is placed of a different colour. Recercelé, and consequently cercelé, sarcelly, were confused with resarcelé and used for it (sense 2). The cross resarcelée was later sometimes blazoned as a cross voided (i.e. having the central part cut out), and recent English heraldic writers have further extended the use of sarcelly (and sarcelled) by applying them to birds and beasts cut through the middle (sense 3).]
1. Used to designate a variety of the cross moline in which the points are recurved or curled back. The Book of St. Albans blazons this cross as retornyt and reuersit, Fr. recercilee, L. inversa.
c 1500 Sc. Poem Heraldry 141 in Q. Eliz. Acad., etc. 99, xj crois fichye; xij sarsile fere. 1562 Legh Armory 59 The fielde Or, a cross Sarcele Geules. 1572 Bossewell Armorie II. 25 b, Gules, on a Crosse Sarcele D'or, fiue mollettes of the firste. 1780 Edmondson Her. Gloss., Cross-Cercelé. This Cross is like the Cross moline, but with this difference, that the points are turned round. Ibid, Sarcelly, the same as Cercelly. 1864 Boutell Heraldry 79 Cercelée or Recercelée, curling at the extremities. 1897 W. K. R. Bedford Blazon Episc. (ed. 2) 217 Gules, a cross sarcelly ermine.
2. Applied to a cross (esp. a cross moline) voided and open at the ends. (Cf. Resarcelée.)
1661 Morgan Sph. Gentry II. 9 Sarcele Cross [=infra 14 Recercile]. 1722 Nisbet Syst. Her. I. xv. 118 A Cross moline, altogether voided, which some of them call a Cross Cercilé. 1828-40 Berry, Encycl. Her. I, Cross sarcele, sarcell, or sarcelle, is a cross voided, or, as it were, sawed apart. 1889 Elvin Dict. Her. p. xiii, Cross voided, also termed sarcelle.
3. Cut through the middle. (Cf. Sarcelled 2.)
1864 Boutell Heraldry 87 Sarcellée.

[1] NED: "Used to designate a variety of the cross moline in which the points are recurved or curled back."
c 1500 Sc. Poem Heraldry 141 in Q. Eliz. Acad., etc. 99,
xj crois fichye; xij sarsile fere.

[2] c 1500 Sc. Poem Heraldry 141 in Q. Eliz. Acad., etc. 99,
xj crois fichye; xij sarsile fere.

[2] *
1894, Henry Gough, James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry, page 493:
Recercelé : a term which seems to have been inconsistently used by later writers from not understanding its original meaning. It occurs in ancient blazon, as will be seen, applied only to the cross and the bordure. In its application to the cross the early instances have already been given under Cross, […] When we come to the roll, temp. Edward III. there are some four or five examples of a cross recercelée (see § 32), and we find recercelé also for the first time applied to the bordure, and as will be seen, in the same arms in which the bordure in the previous reign had been blazoned as indented: possibly recercilé was used in these later instances to signify engrailed, with reference to the half circles which form that line of partition. […] With respect to its application to the Cross, perhaps enough has been said to shew that the probabilities are it was a figure similar to, if not identical with, the cross moline, or the fer-de-moline, but with the extremities perhaps more bent round, as shewn in the illustration of the banner of Bishop BECK of Durham, from the Carlaverock roll under Cross, § 24, and again from the brass where a dimidiated coat of the BEKE family is impaled with the arms of HARCOURT […] English heraldic writers seem, however, to have made two words, recercele and sarcelly, and have implied that they are of different origin and meaning; but there is no agreement as to what those meanings were. The French heralds seem equally at fault. […] while a cross with its ends turned over, or a tail of an animal twisted, might be blazoned recercelée, a cross charged with a filet of the same form being of another tincture would be blazoned resercelée.

[3] *
1914, Bradley, James Augustus Henry Murray, Murray, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles: Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by The Philosophical Society, page 108:
Sarcelled [...] a. Her. [Anglicized f. sarcelle, Sarcelly.] 1. = Sarcelly 2.
1688 R. Holme Armoury I. v. 49-50 A Cross double parted Voided Flory...It is like the Cross Moline Sawed, or cut into 4 quarters, and disposed at a convenient distance; And therefore may be fitly termed a Cross Moline Sarcelled. 1722 Nisbet Syst. Her. I. xv. 113 If the Voiding be of another Colour..than the Field, the Cross is then said to be charged with another Cross; for which our English Heraulds have some needless Terms, as Sarcelled and Resarcelled. 1828-40 Berry Encycl. Her. I, Cross pattée sarcelled at bottom in the form of a ᴧ reversed. Ibid., Cross double voided, by some called a cross voided sarcelled, or sarcelled resarcelled, that is double or twice sawed asunder. 1847 Parker's Gloss. Her. 101 Cross moline sarcelled, or voided throughout, cross recercelée or recersile, or recercelée voided or disjointed, which has also been called a cross fleury biparted.
2. = Sarcelly 3.
1828-40 Berry, Encycl. Her. I, Sarcelled, cut through the middle. Beasts and birds, thus cloven throughout, and the halves..endorsed..is no uncommon bearing in..Germany.
Sarcelly [...] a. Her. Forms: 6 sarsile, 6-7 (9) sarcele, 7 sarcelie, 8 cercilé, cercelly, 9 sarcel(l)é, 8- sarcelly, cercelée. Also erron. 9 sarcell. [a. AF. sercelé, cerselé = OF. cercelé hooped, ringleted, curled, pa. ppl. of cerceler, f. cercel (see Sarcel).
F. cercelé and recercelé (see Recercelé(e) were used synonymously in sense 1 (below). Beside these there was a F. resarcelé (see Resarcelée, of obscure origin) applied to a cross on which another is placed of a different colour. Recercelé, and consequently cercelé, sarcelly, were confused with resarcelé and used for it (sense 2). The cross resarcelée was later sometimes blazoned as a cross voided (i.e. having the central part cut out), and recent English heraldic writers have further extended the use of sarcelly (and sarcelled) by applying them to birds and beasts cut through the middle (sense 3).]
1. Used to designate a variety of the cross moline in which the points are recurved or curled back. The Book of St. Albans blazons this cross as retornyt and reuersit, Fr. recercilee, L. inversa.
c 1500 Sc. Poem Heraldry 141 in Q. Eliz. Acad., etc. 99, xj crois fichye; xij sarsile fere. 1562 Legh Armory 59 The fielde Or, a cross Sarcele Geules. 1572 Bossewell Armorie II. 25 b, Gules, on a Crosse Sarcele D'or, fiue mollettes of the firste. 1780 Edmondson Her. Gloss., Cross-Cercelé. This Cross is like the Cross moline, but with this difference, that the points are turned round. Ibid, Sarcelly, the same as Cercelly. 1864 Boutell Heraldry 79 Cercelée or Recercelée, curling at the extremities. 1897 W. K. R. Bedford Blazon Episc. (ed. 2) 217 Gules, a cross sarcelly ermine.
2. Applied to a cross (esp. a cross moline) voided and open at the ends. (Cf. Resarcelée.)
1661 Morgan Sph. Gentry II. 9 Sarcele Cross [=infra 14 Recercile]. 1722 Nisbet Syst. Her. I. xv. 118 A Cross moline, altogether voided, which some of them call a Cross Cercilé. 1828-40 Berry, Encycl. Her. I, Cross sarcele, sarcell, or sarcelle, is a cross voided, or, as it were, sawed apart. 1889 Elvin Dict. Her. p. xiii, Cross voided, also termed sarcelle.
3. Cut through the middle. (Cf. Sarcelled 2.)
1864 Boutell Heraldry 87 Sarcellée.

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sarcelly

Contents

English

Etymology

Adjective

Usage notes

Alternative forms

Translations

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sarcelly

English

Etymology

Adjective

Usage notes

Alternative forms

Translations

References

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