This week I read James Lipton’s An Exaltation of Larks; or, The Venereal Game (2nd edition, 1977),
a discursive collection and celebration of “terms of venery” — the collective nouns like
“school of fish” and “pride of lions” that were (so the story goes) mostly invented by
medieval hunters who wanted to have their own proper jargon to distinguish the real hunters
from the dilettantes.

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Arthur O'Dwyer

A detailed exploration of the 1486 Book of St Albans, examining its original medieval orthography and comparing it against James Lipton's 1977 book 'An Exaltation of Larks.' The post presents comprehensive tables of collective nouns ('terms of venery') for animals and human professions in their original Middle English spelling alongside modern equivalents and Lipton's modernizations, noting where Lipton changed or invented terms. It also covers the Book's lists of carving terms for preparing animals at table, cross-referenced with Wynken de Worde's 1508 Boke of Kervynge, and a short list of words for animals bedding down for the night.

The Book of St Albans (1486)