Dear All, Yes, I was having you on by backing up Willy Lenders's witty translation of zonnewijzer. Willy and Chris Lusby Taylor have provided the more usual explanation.
I wasn't having you on about Hughes Hall though! Richard Langley is right that the college arms incorporates two owls but they are there as a (not very good) heraldic pun on the Latin aula (with a 'u' not a 'w') for hall. There are owls in the arms, there is an owl weather vane and the sundial has two owls: http://www.hughes.cam.ac.uk/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=25 The owls are convincing, the dial is reasonably convincing, but there is something horribly wrong with the gnomon! Last summer the Hughes Hall May Ball supported the World Owl Trust and two owls were present as guests. Frank King Cambridge, U.K. --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
