osprey的词源

英文词源

osprey: osprey: [15] Etymologically, the osprey is simply a ‘bird of prey’. Its name comes from ospreit, the Old French descendant of Vulgar Latin *avispreda, which in turn was a conflation of Latin avis praedae ‘bird of prey’ (avis is the source of English augur, auspice, aviary, and aviation, and praeda is the ancestor of English prey).

The specific association with the ‘osprey’ came about in Old French through confusion with the coincidentally similar osfraie ‘osprey’. This meant etymologically ‘bone-breaker’. It came from Latin ossifraga, a compound formed from os ‘bone’ (source of English ossify [18]) and frangere ‘break’ (source of English fracture, fragment, etc).

It was originally applied to the lammergeier, a large vulture, in allusion to its habit of dropping its prey from a great height on to rocks beneath in order to break its bones, but was subsequently also used for the osprey.
=> aviary, prey
osprey (n.): fishing hawk, mid-15c., from Anglo-French ospriet, from Medieval Latin avis prede "bird of prey," from Latin avis praedæ, a generic term apparently confused with this specific bird in Old French on its similarity to ossifrage.

来自古法语ospres,来自拉丁语ossifraga,来自拉丁语os,骨头，词源同osseous,ossify,-frag,碎，破开，词源同break,fragment.因这种鹰从高空将骨头扔在地上破开以吸取骨头中的骨髓而得名。

该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：osprey 词源，osprey 含义。