Pursuivant

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈpɜː.sɪ.vənt/

Definitions

1. A junior heraldic officer who ranks below a herald and assists in matters of ceremony, genealogy, and heraldic administration
2. An official attendant of lower rank in heraldic matters who performs ceremonial duties and maintains genealogical records
3. A subordinate heraldic functionary responsible for assisting with ceremonial protocols, genealogical documentation, and heraldic administration

Etymology: "Pursuivant" is a heraldic officer, a rank below herald, and its name is simply the French for "following." In Old French, "pursuivre" meant "to follow" or "to pursue," and "pursuivant" was its present participle, so the title literally describes someone who follows. Heralds carried messages and attended the ceremonies of the nobility, and the pursuivant was the junior partner who went where the herald sent him, which is the job the name hints at. The word reached English in Middle English as "pursevant," a form that shows how the French vowels were reshaped by English speakers. That spelling is why the modern pronunciation, with its stressed first syllable and reduced final vowels, sounds so unlike the French it came from. The same Old French participle also gave English "pursuant," a doublet that kept closer to the original sense of following and became a legal word meaning "in accordance with," while "pursuivant" stayed attached to the heralds' courts.

Synonyms: follower, assistant, acolyte, supporter, attendant

Antonyms: leader, chief, master, director, initiator