@ Galad Damodred: Yes, they just use uncommon, maybe even Archaic words. I believe those words originated from Latin.
Oh, that's a tough one. I believe it's about a shield divided into four sections. I. red lion; II. green serpent; III. gold badger; IV. blue eagle; a gold horizontal band in the center with a dark red or black letter H in the center; ribbon on top with the name Hogwarts and ribbon on the bottom for the motto. It should look something like this:

though I was too lazy and lack the artistic ability on MSPaint to include the animals. xD
fishsama999's illustrates this quite well.
As for the adjectives that follow, such as "salient to sinister," those are just there as sophisticated descriptions of the animals.
@ fishsama999: Your family must have had a long history of valor and glory. =]