sparrowhawk

Etymology

It is formed from English sparrow + hawk,^[2][3][4] and replaced sparhawk, now archaic or dialectal.^[3][5][6] That older name is Middle English sparhauk, from Old English spearhafoc,^[7][4][5][6] a compound of the stem of spearwa (“sparrow”) and hafoc (“hawk”),^[2][5][3] and matches Old Norse sparrhaukr.^[2][5][3] Compare Swedish sparfhök and Danish sporvehög.^[6][2] Bosworth-Toller also compares Old High German sparwāri and German Sperber, with the Romance borrowings French épervier and Italian sparviere.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The hawk Accipiter nisus, which preys on small birds: about 1450, in Mirk's Festial.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Hoad also give the 15th century,^[4][5] Dictionary.com 1400–50,^[9] and Etymonline finds sparowhawke in the late 14th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The bird already had its name in Old English glosses, where spearhafoc translates Latin words for hawks,^[8] and the Middle English form was common, with sperhauk and sparrehowke in Trevisa's translation of Higden and seven uses in Chaucer.^[7][10] The longer form gradually replaced the older name,^[2][3] but Johnson (1755) still enters the word as "sparrowhawk, or sparhawk", defining it after Hanmer as the female of the musket hawk.^[11] From 1787 the name, with a distinguishing word, covered other small hawks;^[2] the late 18th century added the American kestrel.^[3] A small anvil used by silversmiths was called a sparrowhawk from 1869.^[2][3]

Timeline

• c. 1450 – the hawk Accipiter nisus.^[2] Etymonline dates sparowhawke to the late 14th century.^[6]
• 1787 – other small hawks, with a distinguishing word.^[2]
• 1869 – a small anvil used in silver-working.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small Old World hawk of the genus Accipiter that preys on smaller birds, especially Accipiter nisus of Eurasia.^{[12][3][4][2]}
2. A small North American falcon, Falco sparverius, the American kestrel.^[12][3][4]
3. A small anvil used in silversmithing.^[2][3]

Related words

• sparhawk
• sparrow
• hawk

Usage notes

The word is also written sparrow hawk and sparrow-hawk.^[3][6] Collins gives the two-word spelling to the American falcon and the solid one to the Old World hawks.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
8. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins