inescutcheon

English

WOTD – 3 February 2023

Etymology

PIE word
*h₁én

The coat of arms of John de Vaux, a 13th-century English nobleman, features, among other things, an inescutcheon gules (“red”) charged on a larger escutcheon argent (“silver or white”).

From in- (prefix meaning ‘in; within’) +‎ escutcheon.[1][2]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪnɪˈskʌt͡ʃn̩/, /ɪnɛ-/
Audio (southern England) (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ɪnɪˈskʌt͡ʃ(ə)n/, /ɪnɛ-/
Rhymes: -ʌtʃən
Hyphenation: in‧e‧scutch‧eon

Noun

inescutcheon (plural inescutcheons)

(heraldry) A small escutcheon (“coat of arms; shield”) (such as an escutcheon of pretence) which is charged (“represented”) on a larger escutcheon.
- 1718, Alexander Nisbet, “Of Arms of Alliances, with the Method of Marshalling Them and Others Quarterly”, in An Essay on the Ancient and Modern Use of Armories; […], Edinburgh: […] William Adams Junior, for Mr. James Mack Euen, […], OCLC 5385929, page 112:
  All the quartered Arms that I meet vvith belonging to Scottiſh Families, do not exceed ſix different Coats of Arms, vvhich are marſhalled after theſe three vvays, Plain Quartering, Quartering, and Counter-quartering, of vvhich I have treated and illuſtrate by Examples, vvith their Surtouts and Ineſcutcheons.
- 1724, John Guillim, chapter VII, in A Display of Heraldry. […], 6th edition, London: […] T. W. for R. and J. Bonwicke and R. Wilkin, […] [a]nd J. Walthoe and Tho[mas] Ward, […], OCLC 642425918, page 49, column 1:
  [A]n Ineſcutcheon is properly the Charge of a Shield, and born vvithin a 'Scutcheon or Shield, […]
- 1852, J[ames] R[obinson] Planché, “Artificial Objects”, in The Pursuivant of Arms, or Heraldry Founded upon Facts, London: W. N. Wright, […], OCLC 37126461, page 124:
  When only one escutcheon is borne as a charge, it is now generally termed an inescutcheon, but in the early rolls there is no such distinction.
- 1992, Duane L. C. M. Galles, “The Reform of Ecclesiastical Heraldry Revisited”, in The American Benedictine Review, volume 43, number 4, Atchison, Kan.: American Benedictine Review, ISSN 0002-7650, OCLC 1360452930, footnote 15, page 424:
  When he became titular bishop of Hippo and auxiliary bishop of Boston, he added an inescutcheon or small shield in the center of his shield bearing a gold heart inflamed pierced by an arrow and on a blue field. Since titular bishops do not impale their personal arms with those of the see, this was a convenient reference to his titular see.

Translations

Finnish: pienoiskilpi
Hungarian: please add this translation if you can
Italian: scudetto (it) m
Macedonian: шти́тче n (štítče)
Middle English: scochon (rare)
Romanian: please add this translation if you can
Russian: щито́к (ru) m (ščitók)
Swedish: hjärtsköld c

References

Compare “inescutcheon, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2018.
“inescutcheon, n.”, in Collins English Dictionary.