Lewis adapts the title of Chaucer's poem to describe a council of owls who meet at night to discuss the affairs of Narnia. This group name has its origins in the 1950s children's classic The Chronicles of Narniaby CS Lewis and is a reference to Chaucer's allegorical poem "The Parliament of Fowls", in which all the birds of the Earth gather together to find a mate. Misbelief meant an erroneous belief, rather than an inability or refusal to believe, so the painter's job was to conjure misbelief in those who viewed his work to create the illusion of beauty even where he found none. Shoulders could be broadened, eyes brightened, paunches flattened and foreheads heightened. Artists, like poets, were dependent on wealthy patrons for their living, so portrait painters had to strike a balance between truth and flattery. One aim of medieval portraiture was to present the sitter as they hoped to be remembered after their death. We're talking artists here, rather than decorators, and, in particular, painters of portraits. There are also accounts of the birds living up to their murderous name by enacting something known as a crow parliament ( kråkriksdag in Swedish), during which up to 500 birds are said to gather together before suddenly setting on one of their number and tearing it to pieces. They were suspected of having prophetic powers, and the appearance of a crow on the roof of a house was taken as an omen that someone inside would soon die. With their dark feathers and jet-black eyes, crows were regarded by 15th-century peasants as messengers of the devil or witches in disguise. While most terms for groups of birds are linked to their song or habitat, this one has its roots in medieval folklore. It's not a "fury of cuckolds", or "a weeping" or "a shamefulness", they're not in despair – they're either in denial or they're in the dark. This group of husbands is incredulous to discover that their wives have been unfaithful to them. The term sheds light on attitudes towards female sexuality and morality. The word "cuckold" comes from the habit of the female cuckoo bird putting her eggs into other birds' nests, and can be applied to any male unwittingly raising a rival's offspring. You cannot edit your posts in this forum.Like most collective nouns, this one is 15th century in origin and shows how much of a game the invention of such terms had become by the mid-1400s. You cannot delete your posts in this forum. You cannot reply to topics in this forum. You cannot post new topics in this forum. It is also Europe's oldest known record of onomatopoeia! The earliest European-vernacular source of collective nouns for animals is The Treatise from the mid-1200s, a guide for Middle English-speaking kids to learn French. During the 14th century it became a courtly fashion to extend the vocabulary, and by the 15th century this tendency reached exaggerated and even satirical proportions. The fashion of a consciously developed hunting language came to England from France. This tradition stems from an English hunting tradition of the Late Middle Ages. Words for groups of animals, like a "murder" of crows, are called "terms of venery" or "nouns of assembly." Here's a brief history, adapted/copied from Wikipedia.
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