Canting arms

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Queen Mother's funerary hatchment, showing the canting bows and lions of Bowes-Lyon

Canting arms is a technique used in European heraldry whereby the name of the individual or community represented in a coat of arms is "translated" into a visual pun.

The term probably originally came from the same root as the term 'cant' (origially to sing) in the meaning of slang or argot. Other languages call it speaking arms, e.g. in Dutch sprekend wapen.

An example of canting arms are those of the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, who was born Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. Her arms, shown to the right, contain in sinister (i.e. on the wearer's left, viewer's right) the bows and blue lions which make up the family arms of the Bowes and Lyon families.

Rebus coat-of-arms

When the visual representation is not straight-forward but as complex as a rebus, this is sometimes called a rebus coat of arms.

German civic canting

Canting arms – some in the form of rebuses – are quite common in German civic heraldry. In the gallery below are a few examples of civic canting arms from Germany with English translations.

Image:Wappen Eberbach Baden.png|Eberbach's arms: Eber = boar; Bach = brook (wavy blue fess) Image:Wolfsburg.jpg|Wolfsburg's arms: Burg = castle Image:Wappen Waldbrunn MOS.png|Waldbrunn's arms: Wald = forest; Brunn = fountain Image:Vogt Wappen.jpg|Vogt's arms: the title Vogt ≈ Reeve (the rider in these arms)

Sources and references

(incomplete)

[on Heraldica.org]

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