falconry

Etymology

It is borrowed from French fauconnerie,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from faucon (“falcon”) and -erie.^[4] The American Heritage Dictionary treats the English form as an alteration of the French word,^[7] and Dictionary.com as falcon plus -ry on the French model.^[8] The French noun goes back to Late Latin falcō,^[3][2] which is commonly derived from Latin falx (“sickle”), for the shape of the talons,^[2][3] though Ayto thinks it probably Germanic, comparing German Falke and Dutch valk.^[9] The l of the English spelling of falcon was restored after Latin in the 15th century.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The branch of knowledge concerned with hawking and with the breeding and training of hawks: 1575, in a title by Turberville.^[2] Merriam-Webster gives the same year,^[4] and Dictionary.com dates the word 1565–75.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the art or body of knowledge, and the OED records its use for the practice of hawking itself only occasionally, from 1818, in Hallam.^[2] Modern dictionaries give both the art of training the birds and the sport of hunting with them,^[4][10][7] and Dictionary.com extends the sport to hawks and eagles.^[8]

Timeline

• 1575 – the art and knowledge of hawking.^[2][4]
• 1818 – the practice of hawking.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The art of keeping and training falcons and other birds of prey to hunt.^{[10][4][7][5]}
2. The sport of hunting game with such birds; hawking.^[10][4][7]

Related words

• falcon
• falconer
• falcate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins