gonfalon

English

A civic gonfalon.

Alternative forms

• gonfalone
• gonfanon

Etymology

From Middle English gonfalon, from Old French gonfalon, from Frankish *gunþifanō, from Proto-Germanic *gunþifanô.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑːn.fəˌlɑːn/, /-lən/

Noun

gonfalon (plural gonfalons)

1. A standard or ensign, consisting of a pole with a crosspiece from which a banner is suspended, especially as used in church processions, but also for civic and military display.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book CXXXVII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 588–590:

     Ten thousand thousand Ensignes high advanc'd,
     Standards, and Gonfalons twixt Van and Reare
     Streame in the Aire, and for distinction serve

   • 1910, July 12, Franklin Pierce Adams, poem “That Double Play Again” aka “Baseball's Sad Lexicon”, New York Evening Mail, page 6:

     Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,
     Making a Giant hit into a double—
     Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:
     “Tinker to Evers to Chance.”

   • 1922, Clark Ashton Smith, Quest‎^[1]:

     With vermilion leaf or bronze—
     Tatters of gorgeous gonfalons—

2. (heraldry) Alternative form of gonfanon

Related terms

• gonfalonier

Translations

a standard or ensign

• Armenian: խաչադրոշ (hy) (xačʻadroš), զորադրոշ (hy) (zoradroš)
• Bulgarian: хоругва (bg) f (horugva)
• Catalan: gonfanó (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 神幡 (zh) (shénfān)

• Dutch: gonfalon m
• French: gonfalon (fr) m, gonfanon (fr) m
• Galician: gonfalón m
• Italian: gonfalone (it) m
• Old French: gonfalon m, gonfanon m
• Polish: chorągiew (pl) f, gonfalon (pl) m
• Portuguese: gonfalão (pt) m
• Russian: хору́гвь (ru) f (xorúgvʹ), зна́мя (ru) f (známja), гонфало́н m (gonfalón), гонфано́н m (gonfanón)
• Spanish: confalón (es) m

French

Alternative forms

• gonfanon

Etymology

Inherited from Old French gonfalon, from Frankish *gunþifanō, from Proto-Germanic *gunþifanô.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

gonfalon m (plural gonfalons)

1. gonfalon

See also

• bannière, drapeau, enseigne, étendard

Further reading

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

Old French

Alternative forms

• confanon, gonfanon

Etymology

From Frankish *gunþifanō, from Proto-Germanic *gunþifanô.

Noun

gonfalon oblique singular, m (oblique plural gonfalons, nominative singular gonfalons, nominative plural gonfalon)

1. gonfalon

Derived terms

• gonfalonier

Descendants

• French: gonfalon
• → Middle English: gonfalon
  • English: gonfalon
• → Italian: gonfalone
• → Middle Dutch: gonfaloen
  • Dutch: gonfalon, gonfalone

Further reading

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (gonfalon, supplement)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French gonfalon.

Noun

gonfalon n (plural gonfaloane)

1. gonfalon

Declension

Declension of gonfalon

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) gonfalon	gonfalonul	(niște) gonfaloane	gonfaloanele
genitive/dative	(unui) gonfalon	gonfalonului	(unor) gonfaloane	gonfaloanelor
vocative	gonfalonule		gonfaloanelor