Diamonds, Ermine(s) and Arms

Well, I tried all day to find a good online picture, or any picture at all, of the Stickney Coat of Arms. I finally settled for taking a one of the black and white picture in the genealogy book. It's been sitting under a news clipping for many decades now. I wondered if it had some color, and I did not understand the strange description that Matthew Adams Stickney gave it in the text. No problem. Goto wikipedia "Ermine (heraldry) and all will become clear. Matthew would love the internet.
I found many little details today. Some of the early American Stickney men had the distinction of serving on 'Committees of Safety' and this confused me. It seemed very British. This practice was part of British life, for them and for us. When there was a period of instability, the people could summon 2 delegates from each community, gather in a council, and assume a temporary Marshall law. This was being done in Britain, and became more common here after the French and Indian War. I took some notes. It's one for another day. But thanks to this curiosity, I found that the also French allowed Vikings to settle in Normandy around the 800's and that they assimilated well. I looked in Domesday online and found an Odo in the 'Stichenai', Lincolnshire area. The root 'stich' means prick, stab, sew, and a few other related things in German, but not Norwegian or Norse. The Galts migrated to ancient Normandy, Brittany, and the nearby area called Maine. Odo came from Brittany, and in 1066, he was linked to William, the Conqueror, and vice versa, in ways that a soap opera writer would salivate over. The Coat of Arms ended up being plainly from Bretagne. Even the black and white colors. The Dutchy of Brittany's shield was a white background. The Stickney shield has a sable background for reasons of class and propriety. It's called counter-_____. Check out that article. The nuances of these symbols is deep. Even the fleur-de-lis has an ancient but simple meaning. It's often yellow, like the iris's on the banks of the river Lutz, and literally means flower of the lis (river).
Although the author of the book is convinced that the Stickney's came from Normandy, I respectfully have to disagree. So I'll skip ahead in MA Stickney's narrative about 400 years after 1066:
"In 1422 I find with the Arms of "Styckney," ... "Ermines, three lozenges ermine," ...
Say what? Ermines.... ermine? What are lozenges? But... it came clear. Lozenge translated into French is losange. Diamond translated into French is also losange. Heraldic ermines can be straight or curvy ended. If I understood correctly, Brittany adopted the curvy kind at some point prior to 1066. Ermine is black design on white, and ermines are white on black. It's that counter thing that you really need to see the article for. There are colors that mean certain things, also cadency, stain, background color, pattern and so much more. Interesting, but save it for a rainy day. So... the picture below holds three diamond shapes. The Ermines are white on black. The ermine (inside the light diamond shapes) are black. Simple. (Check out that article...)