Groups
Since
we humans tend to form groups, it’s no surprise that over the centuries English
speakers have come up with countless words to label those groups. I hope you’ll
enjoy this collection of words that refer to groups of people. Keep an eye out
for those you find remarkable (some of my favorites include a w… of
soliders, a s… of nuns & a s… of ascetics).
Groups
of friends:
Circle,
clique, host, multitude & troop
Groups
of nuns:
Convent,
nunnery, order, sisterhood & superfluity
Groups
of soldiers:
Army,
band, battalion, brigade, casern, century, company, crue, echelle, file, guard,
host, kern, maniple, platoon, soldiery, squad, squadron, troop, velites, &
wappenshaw
Groups
of scholars:
Class,
form, grade, school
Groups
of
prisoners:
Batch,
clutch, colony & horde
Groups
of monks:
Brotherhood,
community, kellion, monastery, order, sangha (Buddhist), & skete (Ascetics)
Groups
of rogues,
ruffians, knaves or thieves:
Crue,
picaros, gang, horde, mohock, den, gang, ring, thickness, raffle, & ropery
What's remarkable in all this? Please leave a note in the comments section.
What's remarkable in all this? Please leave a note in the comments section.
My thanks go out to this week’s
sources: OED, Merriam Webster, Wordnik, Etymonline & David W.K. Godrich’s A Gaggle of Geese,
2011
I love the idea of a "thickness of thieves". Almost as good as he old "murder of crows." And I didn't know half of those terms for military groups. A wappenshaw of sergeants, perhaps? The Wordmonger never ceases to amaze!
ReplyDeleteHi Anne - I'm with you on a thickness of thieves. It just makes sense somehow, plus it rolls so pleasantly off the tongue.
ReplyDeleteYep, gotta love a superfluity of nuns. I picture a group of nuns performing supernatural tasks. And a picaros of ruffians. Ha! Sounds like a dichotomy. Thanks for the fun read!
ReplyDeleteHi Christine - I imagine if the nuns were thieves we could call the group of them a picafluity.
ReplyDeleteA mohock of knaves? A raffle of ruffians? A ropery of rogues? Who knew? I love them all. I almost regret retirement. We could have had some fun this upcoming year referring to the latest wildest group by these terms.
ReplyDelete