In British

heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and genealo ...

, sable () is the

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

equivalent to

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

. It is one of the five dark tinctures called ''colours''. Sable is portrayed in heraldic

hatching Hatching () is an artistic technique used to create tonal or shading effects by drawing (or painting or scribing) closely spaced parallel lines. When lines are placed at an angle to one another, it is called cross-hatching. Hatching is als ...

by criss-crossing perpendicular lines. Sable is indicated by the abbreviation s. or sa. when a coat of arms is tricked.

Etymology

Sable can be traced back to Middle English, Anglo-French, and ultimately to the Middle Low German ''sabel'', which refers to a species of marten known as a

sable The sable (''Martes zibellina'') is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kaz ...

. This is related to the Middle High German ''zobel'', which is of Slav origin and akin to the Russian ''sobol, which likewise refers to the sable. Since at least the 14th century, sable has been used as a synonym for the colour black. Both ''sable'' and ''negro'' are used for black in Spanish heraldry. In Portugal, black is known as ''negro'', and in Germany the colour is called ''schwarz''. ''Sabel'' is the spelling used in Dutch heraldry.

Poetic meanings

The different tinctures are traditionally associated with particular heavenly bodies, precious stones, virtues, and flowers, although these associations have been mostly disregarded by serious heraldists. Sable is associated with: * Of jewels, the

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

* Of heavenly bodies,

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

* Of virtues, constancy or prudence * Of flowers, the herb

nightshade Solanaceae (), commonly known as the nightshades, is a family of flowering plants in the order Solanales. It contains approximately 2,700 species, several of which are used as agricultural crops, medicinal plants, and ornamental plants. Many me ...

, in these circumstances also called dwalat University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries
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Sable in Central Europe

Sable is considered a ''colour'' in British and French heraldry, and contrasts with lighter ''metals'',

argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...

and Or. However, in the heraldry of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and other parts of

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

, sable is not infrequently placed on colour fields. As a result, a sable cross may appear on a red shield, or a sable bird may appear on a blue or a red field, as in the arms of

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

. In

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, for example, one can find examples of sable on gules and azure fields as early as the sixteenth century in the arms of the family Kanizsai (granted in 1519): ''Azure, an eagle's wing sable taloned Or between a decrescent argent and a sun Or.'' Another early Hungarian example was granted in 1628 to the family Karomi Bornemisza: ''Per fess gules, an eagle displayed sable crowned Or, and azure, a buffalo's head cabossed sable maintaining in its mouth a fish (argent?)''. Polish examples abound as early as the fifteenth century. Józef Szymański includes no fewer than seven examples of sable primary charges on either gules or azure fields out of the approximately 200 shields from this period whose blazons are known. These include the arms of Corvin, "Azure, a raven sable with a circlet or in its beak"; Kownaty, "Gules, a trumpet sable with a cord or, a Passion cross of the same issuing from its opening"; and Słońce, "Gules, a sphere radiant sable, its centre argent". In addition to the seven major examples, he describes occasional variants for the arms of some rody which also use sable charges on azure or gules fields. Sable charges on gules fields also appear in the armory used in

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. This is not surprising, since a significant fraction of Lithuania's personal coats of arms are of Polish origin, so there is a certain similarity of style. Among these coats are those of Great Žemaitija: "a black bear with an argent chain on its neck on a field gules".

Gallery

File:Arms of Dalzell, Earl of Carnwath.svg, Arms of Dalziel family of Scotland File:Arms of the Foljambe family of Walton.png, Arms of the Foljambe family of Walton, Osberton and Aldwark. File:Blason fam nl van Borssele de Zuylen 1.svg, Coat of arms of Frank II van Borselen. File:DEU Hueckelhoven COA.svg, Coat of arms of Hückelhoven, Germany. File:Blason fam fr Boissy d'Anglas.svg, Coat of arms of François-Antoine de Boissy d'Anglas. File:Blazon of the Castelyn family of London.png, Blazon of the Castelyn family of London. File:Coat of arms of Albania.svg, The arms of Albania. File:Coat of arms of Samogitia.svg, The historical coat of arms of Samogitia File:Marquess of Winchester COA.svg, Arms of Paulet, Marquess of Winchester

References

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sable (Heraldry) Colours (heraldry) Shades of gray Shades of black