Goutte

A goutte is a droplet-shaped charge used in heraldry. Its name derives from the Old French for "droplet".

A goutte may be blazoned by its tincture, as in a goutte argent (literally "a silver droplet"). Alternatively, there are special names given to gouttes of various tinctures, as in a goutte d'eau (literally "a droplet of water").

metals		colours
g. d'or of gold	g. d'eau of water	g. de larmes of tears	g. de sang of blood	g. de poix of tar	g. d'huile of (olive) oil	g. de vin of wine

In medieval and Renaissance depictions of coats of arms, the goutte was drawn with wavy sides (as shown above). More modern depictions have smoothed the sides to make the droplets fatter and more symmetrical.

In their earliest uses, gouttes were semé: strewn upon the field of a coat of arms. Rather than semé de gouttes, this is termed goutty, gutté, or gutty (French gouttée). It was only much later that the goutte came to be used individually in heraldry as a charge in its own right.

See also

• Tincture (heraldry)
• Roundel (heraldry)

References

• Burke, Bernard (1884). "Glossary: The Goutte". The general armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales; comprising a registry of armorial bearings from the earliest to the present time. London: Harrison & sons. p. xxxiii. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
• Coats, James (1725). "Gutty". A new dictionary of heraldry. London: Printed for Jer. Batley. p. 173. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
• Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1909). "The Field of a Shield: Semé". A Complete Guide to Heraldry. Illustrated by Graham Johnston. London: T.C. & E.C. Jack. pp. 89–90. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
• Gibbon, John (1682). "Gutty". Introductio Ad Latinam Blasoniam: An Essay to a More Correct Blason in Latine Than Formerly Hath Been Used. London: J. M. pp. 35–37. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)