Honi soit qui mal y pense (UK: [?n? ?sw?: ki: mal i: 'p??s] or US: [?o?ni ?sw? ki ?m?l i 'p??s]) is an Anglo-Norman maxim that means, "May he be shamed who thinks badly of it".
Its translation from Old French is "Shame be to him who thinks evil of it." It is sometimes re-interpreted as "Evil (or shame) be to him that evil thinks" or "shame on anyone who thinks ill of it." In contemporaneous French usage, it is usually used ironically, to insinuate the presence of hidden agendas or conflicts of interest. A more literal, word-by-word translation is "Shamed be [he] who evil of it thinks".
The saying's most famous use is as the motto of the British chivalric Order of the Garter. It is also inscribed at the end of the manuscript of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, but that appears to have been a later addition.
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History and translation
According to historian Elias Ashmole, the foundation of the Garter occurred when Edward III of England prepared for the Battle of Crécy and gave "forth his own garter as the signal." Another theory suggests "a trivial mishap at a court function" when King Edward III was dancing with Joan of Kent, his first cousin and daughter-in-law. Her garter slipped down to her ankle causing those around her to snigger at her humiliation. In an act of chivalry Edward placed the garter around his own leg saying, "Honi soit qui mal y pense. Tel qui s'en rit aujourd'hui, s'honorera de la porter."
The two phrases are often translated as follows: "A scoundrel, who thinks badly by it" or "Shame on him who suspects illicit motivation," followed by, "Those who laugh at this today, tomorrow will be proud to wear it." Other translations include: "Spurned be the one who evil thinks", "Shame be to him who thinks ill of it," and "Evil on him who thinks evil."
David Nash Ford observes:
Edward III may outwardly have professed the Order of the Garter to be a revival of the Round Table, it is probable that privately its formation was a move to gain support for his dubious claim to the French throne. The motto of the Order is a denunciation of those who think ill of some specific project, and not a mere pious invocation of evil upon evil-thinkers in general. 'Shame be to him who thinks ill of it' was probably directed against anyone who should oppose the King's design on the French Crown."
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Heraldic use
In English heraldry, the motto Honi soit qui mal y pense is used either as a stand-alone motto upon a motto scroll, or upon a circular representation of the garter. Knights and Ladies of the Garter are entitled to encircle the escutcheon of their arms with the garter and motto (e.g. The 1st Duke of Marlborough). The latter usage can also be seen in the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, with the motto of the royal arms, Dieu et mon droit, being displayed on a scroll beneath the shield. As part of the royal arms, the motto is displayed in many public buildings in Britain and colonial era public buildings in various parts of the Commonwealth (such as all Courts of England and Wales). The royal arms (and motto) appear on many British government official documents (e.g. the front of current British passports); on packaging and stationery of companies operating under Royal Warrant (e.g. the banner of The Times, which uses the royal coat of arms of Great Britain circa 1714 to 1800; and are used by other entities so distinguished by the British monarch (e.g. as the official emblem of the Royal Yacht Britannia).
Several military organisations in the Commonwealth incorporate the motto inscribed upon a garter of the order within their badges (or cyphers) and some use Honi soit qui mal y pense as their motto. Corps and regiments using the motto in this fashion are ('*' indicates usage as a motto in addition to inclusion in the badge):
- Also used on items, e.g. the baton, of the Society of High Constables of Edinburgh (founded 1611), along with the phrase ' nisi dominos frusta'.
- British Army: the Royal Horse Artillery; Household Cavalry Regiment; Life Guards (motto appears in the Garter Star representation worn on Life Guard officer's helmets rather than in the unit badge); Blues and Royals; Grenadier Guards*;Coldstream Guards; Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment; Royal Regiment of Fusiliers; Royal Engineers; and the Royal Logistic Corps (which in April 1993 became an amalgamation of the trades of five corps, which included the Royal Corps of Transport the Royal Army Ordnance Corps ,The Royal Pioneer Corps, the Army Catering Corps and the Postal and Courier Services of the Royal Engineers, all of these forming Corps used the motto inscribed garter in their badge).
- Australian Army: the Royal Australian Engineers* (motto is one of two used); Royal Australian Army Service Corps (merged in 1973 into the newly raised RACT (and who did not use the motto), and the Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corps);
- Canadian Army:The Governor General's Horse Guards, The Royal Regiment of Canada, The Royal Montreal Regiment and The Royal Canadian Horse Artillery.
- New Zealand Army: the 6th Hauraki Infantry Regiment.
Other uses
- It appears in the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, inscribed on the garter which surrounds the shield, itself supported by a lion and a unicorn.
- It appears in the King's School Grantham coat of arms.
- It appears on a 1612 map entitled Virginia by John Smith, on a design of the Royal Coat of Arms surrounded by the garter. The original is at the Newberry Library in Chicago and was displayed in an exhibit entitled Maps: Finding Our Place in the World at the Field Museum in Chicago from 11/2/07 -1/27/08.
- It appears on several British military cap badges. The phrase is incorporated into the elaborate figurehead of the HMS Victory, Horatio Nelson's flagship at the historic Battle of Trafalgar. Bounty mutineer James Morrison had the motto with a garter tattooed around his left leg, according to William Bligh's Notebook.
- It is a motto for many schools and educational institutions; the title of the University of Sydney student newspaper, Honi Soit, is derived from the motto.
- It is the title of a 2013 multi-award winning, short war documentary by Australian filmmaker Tom Abood.
- It appears in a number of literary works, including Robert Anton Wilson's Masks of the Illuminati, Robert A. Heinlein's Friday, Bernard Malamud's The Natural, Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor (Act V, Scene V), Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina (Part 1, Chapter 17), and at the end of the late 14th-century Middle English Arthurian romance, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
- It appears in the stage directions of Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff, libretto by Arrigo Boito, in Act 3, scene 1, where it is written above the door at the Garter Inn.
- It appears on the coat of arms above the lower main gate of the castle of the German city of Tübingen.
- It appears on the top of the British Residency Building, Hyderabad, the Capital of the South Indian State of Telangana.
- It appears in the comments of the source code for the master ignition routine of the Apollo 13 lunar module.
- It appears in the lyrics of the 1978 song "Parlez-vous français" by the Spanish group Baccara.
- It is sung in full as the chorus of John Cale's song "Honi Soit (La Première Leçon de Français)" featured on the 1981 album Honi Soit.
- Until 1997 it appeared prominently on Hong Kong banknotes, along with the Royal coat of arms. Hence that phrase, along with Dieu et mon droit, which also appeared on the colonial currency, could be considered the motto of colonial Hong Kong.
- It appears in the staff used by the Usher of the Black Rod of the Parliament of Canada.
- It is incorporated in the coat of arms of the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome
- It is used as the motto of The Blue Book, a guide to prostitutes in Storyville, New Orleans published 1895-1915.
- It appears on the masthead of The Times newspaper on a Hanoverian version of the royal coat of arms from 1785.
- It appears in the source code for the Apollo 11
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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