"Azure a winged merman argent"

This is the Heraldic Device for Giovanni Daino di Giacomettino as created by Garth for me in 1993 as an Icon/Gif image on a Macintosh computer, followed by the description in "Herald Speak" that describes how to draw the image. The actual image above is tiny, because in 1993 Mac icons for the desktop were only 32 by 32 pixels. The next section describes what this heraldry is all about. A better, hand-drawn-in-the-real-world, non-icon, version that I drew and painted on a wooden sheild/plaque about 3 inches by 4 inches was the next version that was created (other than the drawing submitted to the heralds, which was not copied and so is now lost, unless the heralds still have a copy of it). This second hand drawn version was close to the version submitted though. Garth then scanned the hand drawn version into the computer so it can be seen on the page listed Here in increasing sizes!!!

In 2007, Garth created this version of the device, after seeing the version that the AEthelmearc Heralds created here, and wanting to see if he could do better (not that their version is bad). You can see their version at the end of the Heraldry section below. This is a "non-heraldic" rendering of the "winged merman," created by using Yahoo! Avatars, which just so happens to have (as of 2007.10.02) a merman "outfit" and a pair of wings in several color choices that your "avatar" can "wear."  I captured the static version of the image of my Yahoo! Avatar dressed this way and pasted it over the blue shield created by the AEthemearc heralds in the version of my device that they did on their website (again, see below).  Yahoo! Avatars make use of flash to put the pieces you choose together and also animate them.  However, only Yahoo! flash based areas can use the animated version. I like the wings on this version and Yahoo! did a pretty good job of making the body of the merman look like a mer man without being as sexually explicit as my earlier version.  The AE herald version skirts this issue with the standard codpiece (sic) found in the victorian source material used in the image collection they did to render all the devices they did.

Just FYI, this is what my avatar is wearing right now. Because this is not a Yahoo! site this image will not animate, but it will update if I change what the avatar has on. It is just a linked description that tells the Yahoo! site server to grab the current settings for my avatar and render it as a static JPEG and return it to this web page, when someone asks their browser to render this page.

Name related information:

Officially (as far as the College of Heralds or College of Arms) is concerned, in December 1993 CE/AD, my name was registered as being non-patently offensive and "medieval enough" to pass the tests to which they put it.  Officially that name is :

"Giovanni di Giacomettino"

In some locations, like The Order of Precedence, kept by a separate branch (sort of) of the College of Heralds and managed by The Laurel Sovereign of Arms, for all groups within the SCA, with separate but often merged copies of the list for each group level, it is misspelled da and Giacommettino. This list is an order (chronological and pseudo-birth-right based on people fighting for the right to be King and/or Queen for a short period) that determines who should differ to whom within the SCA, as far as "dominion and swearing fealty or not" are concerned. The official groups within the SCA keep these lists (one of the duties of the local Herald)  Local Group is defined as a Shire, Canton, College, Barony, Principality or Kingdom, and each kind of these groups keeps their list and pass it on up the "chain of command" for review and merger with other groups, on up to the full SCA, a modern mostly corporate-only entity.

But I digress, and di Giacomettino is what I registered, and the College of Arms has it listed as such in its searchable index.

Alright, but what does it mean (to an Englishman?)

Giovanni translates roughly to “John” in English, though some might say “Johnny” (as in the late Mr. Cash). di is the Italian for the word "of", as is "da", so I can forgive (a little) others misspellings or misuse of another form, acceptable to other Italians in other areas.  It's just how they learned.  Giacomettino is the first name of my Father, a famous merchant, hence I can get away with being known only as his son.  His name translates to roughly “James”, but it is a little bit "diminutive" the way “Johnny” is to “John”, so I would say “Jimmy” is the better translation.

Now, further back up this page you may have noticed the word Daino inserted between Giovanni and di, and may be wondering where it went in this discussion, and why it isn't in the herald discussion above and below. Well, during the time of research in to what to call me (pre 1993 attempts to contact me and get me at SCA events), all we could get was Giovanni Daino.  Daino is a "nickname" I'm known by and is one of the Italian words for "deer", as in the animal hunted for it's meat.  There for, pre 1993, Dec, I was known, in English as John Deer, if translations to English were made.  It was felt that we should just avoid the connotations that being called John Deer might have to modern John Deere Tractor Owners, so we didn't pass that part along to the Heraldic consultants, especially when we could find no evidence of Italians ever calling themselves something like "John Animal-name" as the more "barbaric" northern tribes and Native Americans have tended to do.  Italian last names tend to be either descriptions of the town you are from (da Vinci) or whose father is yours (di Giacomettino), in my time period, so we stuck with out my nick name.

Award of Arms

In the Order of Precedence, which, as we have already discussed, is separate from the College of Arms & Heralds that actually registers the names, I'm known by the full name, as that full name is what received an award of Arms in 1994 for services rendered unto the populace of the Barony March of the Debatable Lands, Fair Æthelmearc and other Denizens of the Society.  Thus, I have a scroll, awarding me the rights to the arms, “Azure, a winged merman argent”, with the name Giovanni Daino di Giacomettino (spelled correctly) upon it. But, over time, someone who keeps the precedence lists has screwed up in copying, and they now list me as Giovanni Diano di Giacommettino and Giovanni Diano da Giacommettino, depending on whose copy you look at.  Finally, by officially awarding me arms under the full name with nickname, the SCA has unknowingly allowed me to be known officially as “John Deer of James” or “Johnny Deer of Jimmy” if you like.  Someday, one of the representatives of these groups of people will view this page, and, if they are in charge and offended by any of this, they may attempt to change some or all of it.  Hopefully just the spelling errors in the Order, and not retroactive removal of the Deer...

OK, but how do you SAY it (the name that is, how do you pronounce it)???

Other Badges and Devices:

Giovanni also has a badge (pseudo-circular in shape since it is field less) that he registered in 1996 CE/AD, which involves a Hedgehog, and there is a depiction of it here below. Here is a description of it, first in Herald speak:

"(Field less) A demi-hedgehog rampant gules issuant from a tower proper"

and now in normal speak, so you get the idea of what it looks like from words only without learning "Heraldry" first.  It is field less (no shield shape or circle, as a badge would normally have a circular shape, at least by SCA convention???, though not always) and has no color. In the space it occupies, there is a properly colored stone tower standing in the lower center (to allow room for the hedgehog at the top) out of the top of which is issuing forth a giant demi-hedgehog (meaning half a hedgehog from the belly to the head, with the "bottom half" missing), in a rampant stance, meaning standing upon one hind-limb, facing the viewer's left, sort of clawing at the air with the other 3 legs, except we have a demi or half hedgehog, so you can't see either hind leg, and the hedgehog is colored gules (or red).  Monty Python fans should be annoyed now...or pleased.

Other Trivia (Drivel) about some of the terms used above in the description:

Hedgehog - Also known in heraldry as the herisson and the ericus

Demi - Said of any charge borne half, as a demi-lion. (Also written deny.) (cut the body in half at the belly top to bottom wise)

Rampant - (ramp'-ant) Said of a beast of prey, as a lion, rising with fore paws in the air., as if attacking. The right fore leg and the right hind leg should be raised higher than the left. Unless otherwise specified, the animal faces dexter.

I had forgotten the exact blazoning (the herald speak) for my badge, and had to look it up to include it in this site, and to build the image of it above, since I have never (till Dec 30, 2003 CE/AD) had a drawing of it in my possession.  I looked it up in the SCA Armorial, under my name (which is how I know the registry, at least has it spelled right from the get go). Here are the results of the search based on my registered name (without the Daino):

Results:
3 items matched name="Giovanni di Giacomettino"
This name was registered in December of 1993 (via the East) .
The following device associated with this name was registered in December of 1993 (via the East) :
Azure , a winged merman argent .
The following badge associated with this name was registered in December of 1996 (via the East) :
(Field less ) A demi-hedgehog rampant gules issuant from a tower proper .
End of Results

To the left, in this little stretch of the page, you see a rendering done by the AEthelmearc Heralds as part of a project to create an actual image for each and every device (no badges) registered to a citizen (or past citizen) of the Principality cum Kingdom of AEthelmearc. I found out about the project circa 2006 and grabbed a copy of my device, but didn't update this page until October of 2007.