Pursevant

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A minor officer of arms who ranks below a herald and carries royal or official messages and proclamations
2. A junior heraldic official who assists heralds in ceremonies, proclamations and the delivery of official messages
3. An attendant of the heraldic College who serves below a herald, conveying announcements and taking part in state ceremony

Etymology: "Pursevant" is an obsolete spelling of "pursuivant," a junior officer of arms in the heraldic system, ranking below herald. The name comes from Old French "pursuivant," the present participle of "pursuivre," meaning "to follow" or "to pursue." A pursuivant was, quite literally, a follower: an attendant who carried messages and ran errands for a herald. The word also has a close relative in English. "Pursuant," as in "pursuant to the rules," descends from the same Old French participle and is a doublet of "pursuivant," meaning the two words entered English by separate routes from one source. The legal sense of following a rule or directive is the ancestor of the modern usage, while the heraldic officer kept the older, more literal sense of someone who follows at another's command.