March 2024 LoRR

Letter of Registrations and Returns

Society of the Middle Ages, Inc.

Office of the Muskatour King of Arms

March 2024

Greetings from the Muskatour staff.

There were no contentious issues this month.

There is one new precedent from this month’s meeting.

• The designator “conservatory” will be added to the list of acceptable civic entity designators in the Rules for Submission, Appendix E.

This month we have no returns and no new pends. See below for the details.

REGISTRATIONS

1. Conservatory of Wood Crafters and Furnishers – New Guild Name

This submission raised the question as to whether the word “conservatory” was a suitable designator for a civic entity prior to end of the 15^th century. The word “conservatory” only dates to 1560 per the online etymological dictionary. However, the same dictionary dates the word “conservation” to the late 14th century from the Latin conservationem, and “conservator” to the late 13th century from the Anglo-French conservatour meaning “keeper, preserver.” Per the same dictionary, the practice of adding the suffix “-ory” to the end of a word to indicate “having to do with” is from Middle English (12th to 15th century) and Old North French (8th to 14^th century.) Thus, “conservatory” becomes a plausible constructed term within our time period.

The Muskatour staff determined that the documentation provided to justify “conservatory” as a constructed designator satisfied the criteria outlined in the Rule for Submission (RfS) paragraph III.A.2.b(2), which states in part, “Name phrases may be constructed from attested period name elements. The client must provide documentation demonstrating that the name phrase follows a period pattern.” Thus, the term “conservatory” will be added to the list of preapproved civic entity designators in the RfS Appendix E.

RETURNS

None 

PENDED

None