orfraie

Forms

orfraie f (plural orfraies)^[1] Middle French orfres (1377), masculine, with the manuscript variant orpres, then orfraye (1493).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French *osfraie, inherited from Latin ossifraga (“osprey”),^[2][3] an unrecorded Old French form altered, probably by assimilation of the /s/ to the following /r/.^[2][3] The Latin word means literally “bone-breaker”, from os (“bone”) and the stem of frangō (“to break”), a name given for the bird's ferocity;^[3][4] the masculine ossifragus, found in Pliny, accounts for some masculine uses in French.^[2] The GLLF instead derives the masculine orfres by dissimilation from an unrecorded Old French *osfres, from the Latin masculine, with the change to the feminine coming later.^[5] Its learned doublet is ossifrage.^[1] Bloch and Wartburg note that the word is found only in French.^[6]

The manuscript variant orpres recalls the English word osprey, usually taken as a borrowing from the Old French form, perhaps influenced, according to Wartburg, by the French outcomes of praeda (“prey”).^[2][3] Etymonline instead traces the English word to Anglo-French ospriet, from Medieval Latin avis prede (“bird of prey”), confused with the Latin name.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi's first record is the masculine orfres in Gace de la Buigne's Roman des deduis (1377), naming a kind of fish-eating eagle.^[2] The Anglo-Norman Dictionary has the word from 1189 for the osprey,^[8] and the Grand Robert dates orfres to about 1200.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word names a fish-eating eagle, also called the sea eagle and now the white-tailed eagle.^[2][3][5] From 1555, in Ronsard, it is also a night bird of ill omen, grouped with the owls:^[2] the eagle was confused with the effraie, a barn owl with a shrill and sinister cry, a confusion the TLFi finds hard to explain.^[2][3] From it comes the phrase pousser des cris d'orfraie “to scream shrilly”, which also means to protest loudly.^[3][9][10]

According to Bloch and Wartburg the influence ran the other way as well: orfraie reshaped the owl's name, giving fresaie and then effraie (1553); in the Maine orfraie still names the barn owl.^[6]

Timeline

• 1377 – Gace de la Buigne writes orfres for a fish-eating eagle.^[2]
• 1493 – The Compost et Kalendrier des bergers has la grant orfraye and la petite orfraye.^[2]
• 1555 – Ronsard uses it for a night bird of ill omen.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The white-tailed eagle, or sea eagle (pygargue).^[2][10][1]
2. The osprey.^[1]
3. (by confusion with the effraie) An owl with a shrill, sinister cry, a bird of ill omen.^[2][1]
4. Pousser des cris d'orfraie: to scream shrilly, or to protest loudly.^[9][10]

Related words

• effraie
• ossifrage
• Latin ossifraga
• English osprey

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale