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Most of the time, the collective noun for a group of animals is fairly mundane and not specialized to the animal, at least in the scientific literature.

Most pack hunters form packs. Most herd animals form herds. Most birds, and the occasional sheep, form flocks. Most fish form schools. Most whales and dolphins form pods. Most (non-human) primates form troops. Most insects form swarms.

All of these terms, along with family, litter, nest, hive and colony - for more specialized groups of animals - have scientific merit.

Meanwhile, the more fanciful, specialized "terms of venery", like murder of crows, gaggle of geese, business of ferrets, et cetera, are rarely if ever used in a scientific context. With one exception.

Lions are pack hunters. But a "pack" of lions is universally known as a pride of lions, even in the scientific literature. Why was this one species singled out for its term of venery?

It's not like a murmuration, a particularly large flock - originally and most commonly of starlings - whose emergent behavior is mesmerizing and of scientific interest in its own right. A pride of lions is just a bunch of lions that live and hunt together, no different from a pack of wolves (except for the fact that lions are felines and wolves are canines).

Why are lions, and lions alone, preferentially collected by their specialized term of venery, even in the scientific literature?

No Name
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  • Answered in https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/221686/etymology-of-a-pride-of-lions? – Xanne Apr 15 '20 at 05:00
  • @Xanne No, it isn't. That question asks "Why is it a pride?" This question asks "Why is it always a pride?" In the scientific literature: it's a flock of crows, not a murder of crows; a flock of geese, not gaggle of geese; a nest of ferrets, not a business of ferrets. But lions are always in prides. Why? – No Name Apr 15 '20 at 05:11
  • The scientist may not use such terms but those who do have lists of them available as Terms of Venery. Their diversity and possible origins are discussed here. https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/430066/are-any-of-these-collective-nouns-hoaxes – Elliot Apr 16 '20 at 04:44
  • @Elliot That doesn't answer my question either. Again: I know why lions gather in prides. I want to know why they don't gather in packs. Even the scientific literature calls them prides, and there's no real reason, unlike the case of "murmuration of starlings". – No Name Apr 16 '20 at 04:52
  • @No Name, Again, Lions are not alone in being collected by their specialized term of venery. One reason they are not called packs is that they do not hunt in packs, a specific technique of wolves for instance. The reason behind such creative venery names is fair to call made-up. The only authority to be claimed is the age of the oldest source. If you are looking for the origin of 'p-r-i-d-e' associated with lions you need to research the stated source. As far as not answering your question, that is why my comments are here in comments. – Elliot Apr 16 '20 at 16:10
  • @Elliot In the scientific literature, geese and gather in flocks, not gaggles. In the scientific literature, crows gather in flocks, not murders. In the scientific literature, ferrets gather in nests, not businesses. In the scientific literature, lions gather in prides, not packs. My question is why are lions different in this regard even in the scientific literature. (cont'd) – No Name Apr 16 '20 at 16:23
  • @Elliot The fact that lions and wolves have different hunting techniques is an answer to that question. If you have sources for the claim that lions have different techniques and that this is the reason they gather in prides rather than packs, then that will make a suitable answer. – No Name Apr 16 '20 at 16:23
  • I suggest you check out the book: An Exultation of Larks. – Lambie Apr 16 '20 at 16:38
  • @Lambie I've heard about that, but I don't have a copy. Does it a) talk about prides of lions and b) explain why pride is the preferred term for a group of lions, even in the scientific literature? – No Name Apr 16 '20 at 16:40
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    "Many of these, including tiding of magpies, murmuration of starlings, unkindness of ravens, and exaltation of larks, are poetic inventions that one can trace back to the fifteenth century." http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/collectives.htm – Lambie Apr 16 '20 at 16:43
  • @Lambie That much I already know. What I want to know is why the "poetic invention" pride overtook the less poetic pack in reference to lions, even in the scientific literature. – No Name Apr 16 '20 at 16:46
  • Wolf pack or pack of wolves. Your assumption is not proven. Who's to say there was "overtaking"? Can you even prove that? – Lambie Apr 16 '20 at 16:53
  • @Lambie Honestly, no. What I do know is that lions, and only lions, form prides, and always prides. If you can give prove to me that pack supplanted pride for wolves, rather than the other way around, then I will accept that. – No Name Apr 16 '20 at 17:02
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    From the comment thread I think people are talking past each other. @NoName is asking for about the linguistic history of, given that there is a set of words for groups of animals of different species (the invented terms of venery), some of those terms stuck and some remained older organic terms, so why (or how) did the invented word word 'pride' last in the context of lions? (and an answer should probably refer to other terms that did or didn't stick or never changed at all in order to confirm or not the premise of the question). – Mitch Apr 16 '20 at 17:45
  • "Why are lions, and lions alone, exclusively collected by their specialized term of venery, even in the scientific literature?" ... This is just not true. There are over 900 000 hits in a Google search for "pack of lions". – Edwin Ashworth Apr 16 '20 at 17:50
  • @EdwinAshworth I checked. I only got 208k results for "pack of lions" (with the quotes), and most of them were crossword clues for "pride", questions about what to call a pack of lions, image search queries and talk about a particular incident where a "pack of lions" ate a poacher. That last one is the only kind of source I'd consider valid. Removing the quotes, the results are padded with "pride of lions vs. pack of painted wolves" and other such things. Feel free to answer with a frame-challenge, I freely admit I might be wrong. – No Name Apr 16 '20 at 18:14
  • From @Janus's answer: << [T]erms of venery in English are quite transparently meant to be amusing or exaggerated gibes at perceived characteristics of the animal in question. They are inventions of the 13th and 14th centuries, and when their number and complexity started approaching the ludicrous, so did their silliness. Examples of terms of venery that quite clearly are ‘personifications’, as it were, of perceived characteristics of the animal described (taken from the Wikipedia page linked to by mplungjan in a comment) include:

    a shrewdness of apes/monkeys a bellowing of bullfinches ...

     – Edwin Ashworth Apr 17 '20 at 10:46
  • (from its rather unpleasant cry) / a flutter of butterflies / a pounce of cats (from their tendency to pounce quickly on their prey) / a peep of chickens / a chattering/clattering of choughs (from their cry) / an intrusion of cockroaches / a bask/float of crocodiles (from their habit of floating near the surface, basking in the sun) / a murder of crows (seen as a harbinger of death) / a waddling of ducks / .... – Edwin Ashworth Apr 17 '20 at 10:47
  • Since lions are—or were, at least, in the Middle Ages—very commonly used as a symbol for pride, bravery, and strength personified (think Richard Lionheart, etc.), it makes good sense to use 'pride' in particular for this perceivedly very proud animal. >> I'd suggest that most of the others are just too silly to use in a scientific register; they lack the gravitas a credible work demands. – Edwin Ashworth Apr 17 '20 at 10:47

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