gonfalon means A standard or ensign, consisting of a pole with a crosspiece from which a banner is suspended, especially as used in church processions, but also for civic and military display. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
gonfalon is pronounced /ˈɡɒnf(ə)lən/.
Why “gonfalon” is a great word
GONFALON — [Noun] A heraldic or ceremonial banner, hung from a crossbar on a vertical pole to drape and sway. From Middle English gonfalon, from Old French gonfalon, from Frankish *gunþifanō (from Proto-Germanic *gunþi- ("battle") + *fanô ("banner, cloth")). Unlike a pennon—a knight’s personal, tapering lance-flag—or a standard—a rigidly mounted heraldic flag of a noble house—a gonfalon is a public, framed emblem for collective display. It is the heavy, embroidered silk lifting in a slow liturgical rhythm; the weathered civic banner with swinging tassels leading guilds through cobbled streets; the vivid, swaying rectangle that makes a moving crowd into a visible polity—a totem of shared identity, lifted not for war but for witness.
noun
- A standard or ensign, consisting of a pole with a crosspiece from which a banner is suspended, especially as used in church processions, but also for civic and military display.“Ten thousand thousand Ensignes high advanc'd,
Standards, and Gonfalons twixt Van and Reare
Streame in the Aire, and for distinction serve”