brattach means the standard of a Highland clan. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 89 out of 100.
Why “brattach” is a great word
A heraldic banner, typically square or rectangular, representing the collective identity and territorial authority of a Scottish Highland clan. From Scottish Gaelic bratach, from Old Irish brattach, related to brat ('cloak, mantle'). Unlike a 'flag,' a general term for any symbolic cloth, or a 'pennon,' a narrow, tapering cavalry streamer, the brattach is a fixed emblem of kinship and land. It is the weathered wool snapping in a glen’s wind, the riot of silk and heraldic tinctures lifted before a charge, the faded relic cherished in exile that holds the weight of a lost landscape—a cloak of a people made visible against the long, entropic fade of lineage into silence.
Etymology
From Scottish Gaelic bratach, from Old Irish brattach; see brat (“cloak, mantle”).
noun
- The standard of a Highland clan.