Brewer, E. Cobham. Dictionary of Phrase & Fable. Gon’falon

Reference > Brewer’s Dictionary > Gon’falon

Gon’eril.

Gonfanon.

CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.

Gon’falon

or Gonfanon. An ensign or standard. A gonfalonier is a magistrate that has a gonfalon. (Italian, gonfalo’ne; French, gonfalon; Saxon, guth-fana, war-flag.) Chaucer uses the word gonfanon; Milton prefers gonfalon. Thus he says:—

“Ten thousand thousand ensigns high advanced,

Standards and gonfalons, ’twixt van and rear

Stream in the air, and for distinction serve

Of hierarchies [3 syl.], of orders, and degrees.”

Paradise Lost, v. 589.

Gon’eril.

Gonfanon.

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