# Battle-cry: "A \[name\]! A \[name\]!" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 28, 2005, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-cry-a-name-a-name/337467 "2005-12-28T18:51:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-cry-a-name-a-name/337467/1 "2005-12-28T18:51:32Z")
Sometimes in fantasy and SF (never in serious historical fiction, or history) I’ve encountered the scene of a warrior (usually a medieval knight or imitation of one) charging into battle with the cry of “A [his own family name]!” E.g., in Gordon R. Dickson’s _The Dragon and the George,_ a knight charges the dragon shouting “A Neville-Smyth! A Neville-Smythe!” In S.M. Stirling’s newly published _The Protector’s War,_ Sir Nigel Loring (an English baronet) always cries, “A Loring! A Loring!” Was there ever a time when warriors used this form of war-cry? Where did it come from? What happened to it? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-cry-a-name-a-name/337467/2 "2005-12-28T19:10:21Z")
Feudalism. Local warlords/nobles would raise a body of troops from their fiefs. The King would mean nothing to a peasant, and little to the retainer-knights who served the Lords. But their Lord paid the bills, & they owed him–_plenty_! So they were not thought of as “soldiers of a given nation”, they were thought of as say, “Neville-Smythe’s Men”. To call “A Neville-Smythe” was to both encourage your own men, & to summon them, keeping them together on the confusion of a radio-less, map-less, H-T-H battlefield. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-cry-a-name-a-name/337467/3 "2005-12-28T19:10:46Z")
Most likely, it comes from Shakespeare’s Richard III: “A Horse! A Horse! My kingdom for a horse!” ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-cry-a-name-a-name/337467/4 "2005-12-28T19:31:23Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Most likely, it comes from Shakespeare’s Richard III: “A Horse! A Horse! My kingdom for a horse!” Nice guess, but wrong. French was the predominant language of chivalry, as well as the primary language (generally) of the English nobility after 1066. (as well as that of the French nobility, of course.) à is a French word that can mean “for” or “to”. So building on what **Bosda** said, “à {family name X}” could either be a rallying cry (“assemble / come \*\*to \*\*me, retainers of Baron X”) or a battle cry of encouragement (“charge / attack / fight bravely **for** Baron X”) ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-cry-a-name-a-name/337467/5 "2005-12-28T19:32:52Z")
“No, not a nurse, an urse!” ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-cry-a-name-a-name/337467/6 "2005-12-28T19:37:05Z")
Oh, and I forgot “The Wind in the Willows”, where Mole’s battle cry against the weasels is “A Mole! A Mole!” ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battle-cry-a-name-a-name/337467/7 "2005-12-28T19:37:58Z")
He’re a glossary of chivalric terms that shows some uses of “à” in phrases, although not exactly in the sense of the OP. [http://www.chronique.com/Library/Glossaries/glossary-KCT/gloss\_a.htm](http://www.chronique.com/Library/Glossaries/glossary-KCT/gloss_a.htm)