aigle

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French aigle, from Old French aigle, itself either borrowed from Old Occitan aigla or taken from Latin aquila, though not as a popular term. Cf. the Old French and regional form aille, which may be popularly inherited.

• Cognate with Italian aquila, Portuguese águia, Spanish águila. Doublet of eagle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛɡl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

aigle m (plural aigles)

1. eagle (any of a number of species of birds of prey)
2. (figuratively) a man of ingenuity and superior talent; a genius

Usage notes

• The term aigle doesn't have a one-to-one translation between French and English. Some species known as eagles in English are known as pygargues in French.

Derived terms

• aigle des steppes
• aigle impérial
• aigle royal
• aiglon
• nez en bec d’aigle
• nid d’aigle

 

Noun

aigle f (plural aigles)

1. a female eagle
2. (heraldry) a representation an eagle; the eagle as a heraldic symbol

Further reading

• “aigle”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• agile, gelai

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French aigle.

Noun

aigle f (plural aigles)

1. eagle

Descendants

• French: aigle

Old French

Etymology

Either borrowed from Old Occitan aigla or taken from Latin aquila. Cf. the variant form aille, which may be popularly inherited.

Noun

aigle oblique singular, m (oblique plural aigles, nominative singular aigles, nominative plural aigle)

1. eagle (animal)
   • 1260–1267, Brunetto Latini, “De tous Faucons” (chapter 150), Book 5, in Livres dou Tresor; republished as Polycarpe Chabaille, compiler, Li livres dou tresor par Brunetto Latini‎^[1], Paris: Imprimerie impériale, 1863, page 203:

     La sisisme ligne est sourpoins. Cist est molt grans, et resemble aigle blanche, mais des oilz et des eles et dou bec est il semblables au girfaut

     The sixth kind [of falcon] is the saker. It is very large, and resembles the white eagle; but in the eyes, and in the wings, and in the beak, it is similar to the gyrfalcon

Descendants

• Middle French: aigle
  • French: aigle
• Anglo-Norman: egle
  • → Middle English: egle, agle, egel
    • English: eagle (see there for further descendants)
    • Scots: aigle
• Norman: aiglle, aigl'ye (Jersey)

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English egle, from Anglo-Norman egle, from Old French aigle, from Latin aquila.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈeɡl/

Noun

aigle (plural aigles)

1. eagle

References

• “aigle, n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.