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Origin and history of osprey

osprey(n.)

"sea-eagle," a large species of fishing-hawk, mid-15c., osprai, from Anglo-French ospriet, from Medieval Latin avis prede "bird of prey," from Latin avis praedæ, a generic term. Modern osprey apparently represents a confusion of this term in Old French with Latin ossifraga (Pliny), the name of another large bird, for which see ossifrage (q.v.).

also from mid-15c.

Entries linking to osprey

ossifrage(n.)

"sea-eagle, osprey," c. 1600, from Latin ossifraga "vulture," fem. of ossifragus, literally "bone-breaker," from ossifragus (adj.) "bone-breaking," from os (genitive ossis) "bone" (from PIE root *ost- "bone") + stem of frangere "to break" (from PIE root *bhreg- "to break").

By this name Pliny meant "the Lammergeier" (that name is from German and means literally "lamb-vulture"), a very large Old World vulture that swallows and digests bones and was believed also to drop them from aloft to break them and get at the marrow. But in England and France, the word was transferred to the osprey, perhaps on the basis of a rough similarity of sound between the two words.

*awi-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "bird." It also might be the source of *woyo, *oyyo, Proto-Indo-European words for "egg."

It might form all or part of: auspex; auspices; auspicious; avian; aviary; aviation; aviator; avicide; aviculture; aviform; caviar; cockney; egg (n.); ocarina; oo-; oocyte; oolite; oology; osprey; ostrich; oval; ovary; ovate (adj.); oviform; oviparous; ovoviviparous; ovoid; ovulate; ovulation; ovule; ovum.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit vih, Avestan vish, Latin avis "bird;" Greek aietos "eagle;" Old Church Slavonic aja, Russian jajco, Breton ui, Welsh wy, Greek ōon, Latin ovum, Old Norse egg, Old High German ei, Gothic ada all meaning "egg."

*ghend-

also *ghed-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to seize, to take." 

It might form all or part of: apprehend; apprentice; apprise; beget; comprehend; comprehension; comprehensive; comprise; depredate; depredation; emprise; enterprise; entrepreneur; forget; get; guess; impresario; misprision; osprey; predatory; pregnable; prehensile; prehension; prey; prison; prize (n.2) "something taken by force;" pry (v.2) "raise by force;" reprehend; reprieve; reprisal; reprise; spree; surprise.

It might also be the source of: Greek khandanein "to hold, contain;" Lithuanian godėtis "be eager;" second element in Latin prehendere "to grasp, seize;" Welsh gannu "to hold, contain;" Russian za-gadka "riddle;" Old Norse geta "to obtain, reach; to be able to; to beget; to learn; to be pleased with;" Albanian gjen "to find."

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    hawk
    c. 1300, hauk, earlier havek (c. 1200), from Old English hafoc (West Saxon), heafuc (Mercian), heafoc, "hawk," from Proto-Germanic *habukaz (source also of Old Norse haukr, Old Saxon habuc, Middle Dutch havik, Old High German habuh, German Habicht "hawk"), from PIE root *kap- "to
    fish
    "a vertebrate which has gills and fins adapting it for living in the water," Old English fisc "fish," from Proto-Germanic *fiskaz (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Old High German fisc, Old Norse fiskr, Middle Dutch visc, Dutch vis, German Fisch, Gothic fisks), perhaps from
    eagle
    "very large diurnal raptorial bird of the genus Aquila," mid-14c., from Old French egle, from Old Provençal aigla, from Latin aquila "black eagle," fem. of aquilus "eagle," often explained as "the dark colored" (bird); see aquiline. The native term was erne. Golf score sense is b
    sea
    Middle English se, seo, from Old English sæ, "sheet of water, sea, lake, pool," from Proto-Germanic *saiwa- (source also of Old Saxon seo, Old Frisian se, Middle Dutch see, Dutch zee, German See, Swedish sjö), of unknown origin, outside connections "wholly doubtful" [Buck], and a
    preposition
    late 14c., preposicioun, in grammar, "indeclinable part of speech regularly placed before and governing a noun in an oblique case and showing its relation to a verb, adjective, or other noun," from Latin praepositionem (nominative praepositio) "a putting before, a prefixing," nou
    Elizabeth
    fem. proper name, Biblical name of the wife of Aaron, from Late Latin Elisabeth, from Greek Eleisabeth, Eleisabet, from Hebrew Elishebha "God is an oath," the second element said by Klein to be related to shivah (fem. sheva) "seven," and to nishba "he swore," originally "he bound
    gossamer
    c. 1300, "filmy substance (actually spider threads) found in fields of stubble in late fall," apparently from gos "goose" (see goose (n.)) + sumer "summer" (see summer (n.)). Blount (1656) has it as gossymeare or gossomor "the white and cobweb-like exhalations, which fly abroad i
    ground
    Old English grund "bottom; foundation; surface of the earth," also "abyss, Hell," and "bottom of the sea" (a sense preserved in run aground), from Proto-Germanic *grundu-, which seems to have meant "deep place" (source also of Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Danish, Swedish grund, Dutch

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