{"id":41,"date":"2018-07-06T11:43:46","date_gmt":"2018-07-06T15:43:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/meyersde\/?page_id=41"},"modified":"2021-07-29T10:31:07","modified_gmt":"2021-07-29T14:31:07","slug":"the-collective-noun-catalog","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/meyersde\/the-collective-noun-catalog\/","title":{"rendered":"The Collective Noun Catalog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is a collective noun???<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div>\n<div>col\u00b7lec\u00b7tive noun<br>\/k\u0259\u02c8lektiv noun\/<\/div>\n<div>noun: collective noun; plural noun: collective nouns<\/div>\n<ol>\n<li>\n<div>a noun that denotes a group of individuals (e.g., assembly, family, crew ). Collective nouns are names for a collection or a number of people or things. Words like group, herd, and array are collective noun examples.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Collective nouns have been an important part of English grammar for centuries, and the assembly of collective nouns began in the 1400s as printed materials become widely available and literacy rates among people began to climb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who decides on the right collective noun for something?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As per the <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.oxforddictionaries.com\/2012\/08\/09\/collective-nouns\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">OxfordWords Website<\/a>: &#8220;The short answer is no one. While some languages, such as Spanish, French, and German, are ruled by committee there is no academy or governing body that decides on how English should evolve.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why did you do this?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The short answer, again, is that I kept looking around for a comprehensive listing of as many collective nouns as possible, and I kept finding elementary and rudimentary listings. I could never find large complete listings of collective nouns. I also wanted to see how collective nouns changed over time and how they were categorized or grouped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Note About the Categorization of Collective Nouns<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Living Organisms (Plants, Animals, Bacterium, Fungi, etc.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wherever possible, I have tried to categorize these using the scientific classification system using Class \u2013 Order \u2013 (Family) if possible. In cases were nouns were too generalized or if there were a very large grouping of like nouns, I move up or down in the classification system to include either a Phylum, Superclass, Class, or a Clade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Inanimate Common Nouns \u2013 I have attempted to categorize these as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Abstract nouns &#8211; refer to things that are not concrete; refer to emotions, ideas, concepts, traits, experiences, or a state of being.<\/li><li>Countable nouns &#8211; are able to be shown with a number.<\/li><li>Uncountable nouns \u2013 can be thought of as a collective within a subset of collective nouns. Normally uncountable nouns are used in the singular tense and one cannot use \u201ca\u201d or \u201can\u201d with them.<\/li><li>Concrete nouns represent something physical that can be experienced through the senses<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Common nouns that could be grouped into additional categories include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Finance \u2013 refers to nouns in the world of banking and finance<\/li><li>Food \u2013 Breads, Cereals, Confections, Dairy, Drink, Fruits, Fungi, Legumes, Meats, Nuts, Soups, Spices, and Vegetable.<\/li><li>Music \u2013 Musical instruments, sections of an orchestra, nouns referring to music<\/li><li>Military \u2013 Vehicles, Weapons<\/li><li>Mythical Beings \u2013 that which no longer resides in the natural world or which exists in non-material world.<\/li><li>Natural World \u2013 nouns that represent the natural world and its attributes<\/li><li>Science and Medicine \u2013 nouns directly involved with the scientific world or the world of medicine<\/li><li>Time \u2013 nouns referencing time<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">People<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Loosely classified into groups defined by the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO), and then by generally recognizable categories.&nbsp; Major Groupings of Occupations of the ISCO: &#8211; General Occupational Categories listed as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Managers &#8211; Management<\/li><li>Professionals &#8211; Professional<\/li><li>Technicians and Associate Professionals &#8211; Professional<\/li><li>Clerical Support Workers &#8211; Clerical Support<\/li><li>Services and Sales Workers- Services, Sales<\/li><li>Skilled Agricultural, Forestry and Fishery Workers &#8211; Farm<\/li><li>Craft and Related Trades Workers &#8211; Trades<\/li><li>Plant and Machine Operators and Assemblers &#8211; Trades<\/li><li>Elementary Occupations &#8211; Trades<\/li><li>Armed Forces Occupations &#8211; Military<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Access The Collective Noun Catalog<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size has-medium-font-size\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-blue-background-color has-text-color has-background\" href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/1xCYrcJYhZVHNaF2J5oIgiFsROF--ZDzl68VFS8HzNUQ\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>View as a Google Document<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size has-medium-font-size\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-blue-background-color has-text-color has-background\" href=\"http:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/meyersde\/files\/2018\/07\/Collective-Noun-Catalog.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Download as a PDF Document<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Primary Sources<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>&#8220;From a Levvell for Gentrie: S.T.&#8221; London, Johm Helme. 1614. British Museum C. 31 c. 4.<\/li><li>&#8220;The Companyes of beastes and foules.&#8221; The Boke of Saint Albans. London, Sygne of the Rose Garlande. Wyliam Coplande for Richard Tottell. circa 1561. British Museum, C. 10,494.<\/li><li>&#8220;The manere of hawkynge &amp; huntynge: and also of diuysynge of Cote armours.&#8221; The Boke of Saint Albans. Wynkyn de Worde, 1496. Reproduced in Facsimile. 50-52.<\/li><li>\u201cAppendix:Glossary of Collective Nouns by Collective Term.\u201d Appendix:Glossary of Collective Nouns by Collective Term &#8211; Wiktionary, en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/ Appendix:Glossary_of_collective_nouns_by_collective_term.<\/li><li>\u201cCollective Nouns for Musicians.\u201d Collective Nouns, 2003, gkpedia.com\/ CollectiveNouns\/collectivenounsformusicians.php.<\/li><li>\u201cCollective Nouns for Things | Objects, Fruit, Food, Grammer and More.\u201d Collective Nouns, www.collectivenouns.biz\/list-of-collective-nouns\/ collective-nouns-objects-things\/.<\/li><li>\u201cCulture of Microbiologists, Stream of Urologist and Other Collective Names of Doctors.\u201d Ritankar Majumdar, 20 Feb. 2017, ritankarmajumdar.ddns.net\/ 2017\/02\/20\/culture-microbiologists-stream-urologist-collective-names-doctors\/.<\/li><li>\u201cFictitious Collective Nouns.\u201d Suggestions for Fictitious or Dubious Collective Nouns for Groups of Things\/People, Animals Etc.- A and B, www.hintsandthings.co.uk\/kennel\/fictitious-collectives.htm.<\/li><li>\u201cList of English Terms of Venery, by Animal.\u201d Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Jan. 2018, en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_English_terms_of_venery,_ by_animal.<\/li><li>\u201cSupernatural Collective Nouns.\u201d Wondermark RSS, wondermark.com\/566\/.<\/li><li>\u201cThe Collective Nouns.\u201d The Collective Noun Page, 1996, www.ojohaven.com\/ collectives\/.<\/li><li>Astronominov, Mandark. \u201c#Scientistherdnames Hashtag on Twitter.\u201d Twitter, Twitter, 4 Feb. 2016, twitter.com\/hashtag\/scientistherdnames?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&amp; ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Fnews%2Fa-field-of-crop-scientists-twitter-delivers-collective-nouns-for-researchers-1.19288.<\/li><li>Barnes, Dame Juliana (attrib). &#8220;The Compa\u1e8fn\u1e8fs of beest\u1e8fs and fowl\u1e8fs.&#8221; The Boke of Saint Albans. Printed in 1486, Reproduced in Facsimile. With an Introduction by William Blades. British Library, London, 1881.<\/li><li>Berners, Dame Juliana (attrib). Hawking, Hunting, and Fishing, with the True Measures of Blowing. Newly Corrected and Amended. 1586. Printed by Edward Allde<\/li><li>Cambridge, Trinity College Library. Femina Manuscript. 1420. No. B.14. 40. Folio 88-89b.<\/li><li>Chu-Carroll, Mark C. \u201cCollective Noun for Geeks.\u201d Good Math, Bad Math, 2007, scienceblogs.com\/goodmath\/2007\/12\/18\/collective-noun-for-geeks\/.<\/li><li>Collective Nouns, users.tinyonline.co.uk\/gswithenbank\/collnoun.htm.<\/li><li>Dodington, J. &#8220;The Visions of Dom Francisco de Quevedo Villegas, now made English.&#8221; 1688. London.<\/li><li>Fanous, Samuel, and Thomas Bewick. A Conspiracy of Ravens: a Compendium of Collective Nouns for Birds. Bodleian Library, 2014.<\/li><li>Findlay, Carly and Sarah Pegasus. \u201cMedical Collective Nouns \u2013 a Poem.\u201d Carly Findlay, 10 June 2013, carlyfindlay.com.au\/2013\/06\/10\/medical-collective-nouns-a-poem\/.<\/li><li>Hare, C. E. The Language of Field Sports. London, Country Life; New York: C. Schribners Sons, 1949.<\/li><li>Heller, Ruth. A Cache of Jewels and Other Collective Nouns. Grosset &amp; Dunlap, 2001.<\/li><li>Hodgkin, John (1909). Proper Terms: An Attempt at Rational Explanation of the Meanings of the Collection of Phrases in &#8220;The Book of St. Albans,&#8221; 1486, Entitled &#8220;Companys of Beestys and Fowlys,&#8221; and Similar Lists&#8217;. Supplement to the Transactions of the Philological Society, 1907\u20131910.<\/li><li>Lipton, James. An Exaltation of Home and Family. Villard Books, 1993.<\/li><li>Lipton, James. Exaltation of Larks; Or, The Venereal Game. Penguin, 1977.<\/li><li>London, British Museum. Addl. Manuscript 33,994. 15th Century. Folio 26b.<\/li><li>London, British Museum. Egerton Manuscript 1995. Circa 1452. Begins on folio 555.<\/li><li>London, British Museum. Harley Manuscript 2340. 15th Century. Begins on folio 51a.<\/li><li>London, British Museum. Harley Manuscript 541. 15th Century. Begins on folio 225a.<\/li><li>London, British Museum. Porkington Manuscript 10. Begins on Folio 184a.<\/li><li>London, British Museum. Robert of Gloucester Manuscript, College of Arms. 15th century.<\/li><li>Lydgate, John, et al. The Hors, the Shepe, &amp; the Ghoos: a Poem. From the Shakspeare Press by W. Nicol, 1822.<\/li><li>Ogburn, Jacqueline K., and Nicoletta Ceccoli. A Dignity of Dragons: Collective Nouns for Magical Beasts. Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2010.<\/li><li>Oxford, Bodleian Library. Digby Manuscript 196. 15th Century. Folio 1600.<\/li><li>Oxon. Langbaine, Gerald. Manuscript communicated to Franciscus Junius for his &#8220;Etymologicum Anglicanum.&#8221; 1743.<\/li><li>Sacher, Jason. A Compendium of Collective Nouns: from an Armory of Aardvarks to a Zeal of Zebras. Chronicle Books, 2013.<\/li><li>Skeat, Rev. Professor. &#8220;Nominale Sive Verbale.&#8221; Philological Society&#8217;s Transactions, 1906. London. 423-7, 14.<\/li><li>Sparkes, Ivan G. Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. White Lion Publishers Lts, 1975.<\/li><li>The Booke of Curtesye or lytyll John, printed by William Caxton, Bodleian Library, Oxford. a fragment only. Circa 1477.<\/li><li>West, Kipling. A Rattle of Bones: a Halloween Book of Collective Nouns. Orchard Books, 1999.<\/li><\/ol>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Secondary Sources<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>&#8220;From Blome&#8217;s Gentleman&#8217;s Recreation.&#8221; 1686. British Museum G.7428. 44-75.<\/li><li>&#8220;From the Academy of Armory and Blazon.&#8221; Handle Holme. 1688. British Museum 2010.g. 131, 310-311.<\/li><li>&#8220;From the Gentleman&#8217;s Recreation.&#8221; Third Edition. 1686. Freeman Collins for Nicholas Cox. British Museum 1040.g.1. 9-10.<\/li><li>&#8220;List of Collective Nouns for Animals + Group Names of Mammals &amp; Fish.\u201d Adducation, www.adducation.info\/mankind-nature-general-knowledge\/collective-nouns-for-animals\/.<\/li><li>\u201c23 Bookish Collective Nouns.\u201d Writers Write, 20 Jan. 2018, writerswrite.co.za\/23-bookish-collective-nouns\/.<\/li><li>\u201cAn Alphabet of Animals.\u201d The Ark In Space, www.arkinspace.com\/2010\/12\/collective-nouns-alphabet-of-animals.html.<\/li><li>\u201cCollective Nouns &#8211; People.\u201d myenglishgrammar.com\/list-3-collective-nouns.html.<\/li><li>\u201cCollective Nouns List.\u201d Collective Nouns List &#8211; Official Site, www.collectivenounslist.com\/.<\/li><li>\u201cCollective Nouns.\u201d Sight Words, Reading, Writing, Spelling &amp; Worksheets Header Image, www.sightwordsgame.com\/parts-of-speech\/collective-nouns\/.<\/li><li>Burrard, Gerald. Notes on Sporting Rifles. 1958.<\/li><li>Cockaine, Thomas, and W. R. Halliday. A Short Treatise of Hunting. Milford, 1932.<\/li><li>Collective Nouns: EnchantedLearning.com, 2006, www.enchantedlearning.com\/grammar\/partsofspeech\/nouns\/collective\/.<\/li><li>Cox, Nicholas. The Gentleman&#8217;s Recreation: In Four Parts, Viz. Hunting, Hawking, Fowling, Fishing: Collected at First from Antient and Modern Authors, and Now in This Second Edition Corrected and Very Much Enlarged by Several Eminent and Skilful Persons, Lovers of These Sports. 1677.<\/li><li>Daniel, William Barker. Rural Sports. I. White, 1805.<\/li><li>Englishstudy. \u201cCollective Nouns Singular or Plural?\u201d English Study Page, englishstudypage.com\/grammar\/collective-nouns-singular-or-plural\/.<\/li><li>Folkard, H.C. Wildfowler &#8211; A Treatise On Fowling Ancient and Modern. Read Books Ltd., 2013.<\/li><li>Fry, Edward B., and Jacqueline E. Kress. The Reading Teacher&#8217;s Book Of Lists. Wiley, 2012.<\/li><li>Gvillim, John. &#8220;From the Display of Heraldrie.&#8221; Second Edition. Richard Badger for Ralph Mab. 1632. British Museum 605.g.14. 177.<\/li><li>Hodgkin, John. Proper Terms, an Attempt at a Rational Explanation of the Meanings of the Collection of Phrases in &#8220;the Book of St. Albans&#8221;, 1486, Entitled &#8220;Compaynys of Beestys and Fowlys&#8221; and Similar Lists, by John Hodgkin, K. Paul, Trench, Tru\u00cc\u0088Bner and Co., 1909.<\/li><li>Holme, Randle. Academy of Armory and Blazon. Scolar Pr., 1972.<\/li><li>Mackintosh, Alexander. The Driffield Angler: in Two Parts. Henry Mozley, Printer, 1810.<\/li><li>Marhkam, Gervase. &#8220;From the Gentlemen&#8217;s Academie of The Booke of Saint Albans.&#8221; London, Humfrey Lownes. 1595. British Museum C.31.e.30. 37b-38.<\/li><li>McKnight, Scot. \u201c50 Collective Nouns.\u201d Jesus Creed, 21 Jan. 2013, www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/01\/24\/50-collective-nouns\/.<\/li><li>Mercado, Mia. \u201cA Compiled List of Collective Nouns.\u201d The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 19 June 2017, www.newyorker.com\/humor\/daily-shouts\/a-compiled-list-of-collective-nouns.<\/li><li>Nicol, Randall James. A Collection of Terms Denoting Assemblages of Animals, Birds, Human Beings, Etc. Ballogie, 1933.<\/li><li>Osbaldiston, William Augustus. The British Sportsmen: or noblemen, gentlemen and farmer&#8217;s dictionary of recreation and amusement. 1792.<\/li><li>Strutt, Joseph, and William Hone. The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England . Tegg &amp; Co., 1850.<\/li><li>Strutt, Joseph. &#8220;Sports and Pastimes.&#8221; 1801.<\/li><li>Turbervile, George. &#8220;Of the Terms of Venerie.&#8221; The Booke of Hunting. Henry Bynneman for Christopher Barker. 1575. British Museum C.31.G.1.(2.). 234.<\/li><li>Twici, William, and Thomas Phillips. Le Art De Venerie, Par Guyllame Twici. Ex MSS. Phillipps, No. 8336. Middle Hill, 1840.<\/li><li>Wright, Thomas, ed. &#8220;A Volume of Vocabularies.&#8221; From the Treatise of Walter de Bibbeswirth, end of the Thirteenth Century. 1857. Volume I, 150-151.<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is a collective noun??? col\u00b7lec\u00b7tive noun\/k\u0259\u02c8lektiv noun\/ noun: collective noun; plural noun: collective nouns a noun that denotes a group of individuals (e.g., assembly, family, crew ). Collective nouns are names for a collection or a number of people or things. Words like group, herd, and array are collective noun examples. Collective nouns have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1593,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":203,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-41","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/meyersde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/41","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/meyersde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/meyersde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/meyersde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1593"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/meyersde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/meyersde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/41\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/meyersde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}