Jessant

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈdʒɛsənt/

Definitions

1. A heraldic term describing a charge, typically a fleur-de-lis, emerging or springing forth from another object, especially from the middle of something
2. A specific heraldic description refers to a charge that is depicted as rising from an object, usually indicated by flowers or symbols
3. In heraldry, it denotes an emblem or figure that is shown springing from another item, often of floral nature

Etymology: "Jessant" is a heraldic term, used of a charge such as a fleur-de-lis that seems to spring up out of something else, most often from the middle of a figure. Its ancestry runs through Old French "gesant", the present participle of "gesir", meaning "to lie" or "to lie down," which in turn came from Latin "jacere", "to lie" or "to throw." The same Latin verb gave English "jacent," and the two words are doublets: separate descendants of one root that arrived by different routes. The sense of "lying" survives in the English word only indirectly. Heralds borrowed the French form to describe a device that rises from a base, so the word's image is one of lying low and then sending something upward. The Latin root "jacere" also stands behind words such as "ject" and "adjacent," which share the idea of something set down or thrown.