# The word for "Bird" in Romance languages



## vince

In Latin it was Avis, and "aves" seems to be preserved in some languages.

But where do the forms that look like "paxaro" and "ocel"  come from?


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## Athaulf

vince said:


> In Latin it was Avis, and "aves" seems to be preserved in some languages.
> 
> But where do the forms that look like "paxaro" and "ocel"  come from?



Interesting question... According to this source, Spanish _pájaro_ and similar words come from the Latin _passer_, meaning "sparrow" (which is apparently still used for sparrows in taxonomy).

I wonder if Spanish _ave _has survived all the way from Latin, or if it's a more recently introduced Latinism?


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## franz rod

In Italian bird is "uccello". It comes from latin aucellus, diminutive of avis


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## mgwls

From what I could gather: Italian *uccello*, French *oiseau* and Catalan *ocell* are all cognates and stem from the Late Latin word for "little bird": _*aucellus*_  which is cognate of Spanish _*ave*_ and derives from Latin *avis*.

Saludos


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## OldAvatar

In Romanian is _pasăre_, from Latin *passer (sparrow**).
*Some regionalisms kept the form paser-_paseră _(sg.), _paseri_(pl.).


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## CapnPrep

Just to provide the presumed original form: classical Latin _avicellus_ > Vulgar Latin _aucellus_


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## SerinusCanaria3075

Sardinian has "_*puzone*_" as the general word for _bird_. 
Of course there are variants depending on the region: _pigioni, pilloni, pizone, pixone, pugione, puzona, puzone,_ and as we can see it can be either masculine or feminine.

Plural: _Is pillonis _(most certainly _Campidanese_) or _sos puzones_.

_Ave_ (or _Ae_) and _Cedda_ (or _Cedha_) are the other 2 variants for _bird_.

_Pilloni_ apparently comes from Latin _pipio, -onis_, which of course evolved into _Piccione_ (it), _Pigeon_ (fr), _Pichón_ (esp) in other languages. 
Sardinian _pigeon_ on the other hand is _Columbu (colombu, culumbu, caombu)_ from Latin _Columbus_ and still present in Italian _Colombo (_and_ Colombe_ for French lovers_)_.


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## jazyk

> I wonder if Spanish _ave _has survived all the way from Latin, or if it's a more recently introduced Latinism?


Ave is also Portuguese. It's been used in Portuguese since the 13th century, according to this dictionary.

And here's the difference between pássaro and ave (in Portuguese).


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## demalaga

In Catalan big birds are called aus and small ones are called pardal.I suppose that this word is derived from Latin "pardalis"but this word meant panther ,also used in compound scientific names for several animals like furcifer pardalis and camelo pardalis which is also the name of a constellation.

I have to add that the usual name for birds in Catalan is ocell.Pardal is just used in some areas


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## Outsider

_Pardal_ means "sparrow" in Portuguese.


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## Cilquiestsuens

By the way *passereau*, also means sparrow in French. However, we prefer *moineau* in modern French. *Passereau* is now used in modern French, since the beginning of the 19th century to describe a category of small sized and singing birds.


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## J.F. de TROYES

mgwls said:


> From what I could gather: Italian *uccello*, French *oiseau* and Catalan *ocell* are all cognates and stem from the Late Latin word for "little bird": _*aucellus*_ which is cognate of Spanish _*ave*_ and derives from Latin *avis*.
> 
> Saludos


 
The Corsican forms are very close to the previous ones :
*acellu, ucellu, ocellu*  (it depends on the areas )
The same for Occitan :
*  aucèl*
 Old French had *oisel* which the still used "oiselet" (small bird ) comes from.


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## Nizo

As a sidenote, as with other words (such as _moon/lunar_ and _sun/solar_), the adjectival form in English harkens back to the Latin:

_bird_ (n)
_avian_ (adj) :  bird flu / avian influenza

Also:
an _aviary_ (fr= une volière, es= una pajarera, it= una voliera)

No one asked, but I think it's interesting


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## tom_in_bahia

Hmm.So, I suppose that since the central Romance languages (Italian, French, Catalan) use a word derived from aucellus (uccello, oiseau, ucell) and the peripheral Romance Languages (Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian) use a word similar to "sparrow" (passer --> Pajaro, Passaro, Pasare), I can assume that the idea of sparrow meaning any bird in general was a concept present at an early time in common spoken Latin than the diminutive (little bird) which remains present in the heart of the old empire.

What do you think? Pajaro=bird is older than Oiseau=bird? (in simplified terms)


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## xupxup

The standard word for bird in catalan is _ocell _(or _aucell_), derived from the latin diminutive *aucellu - avicella*. The word _au_, derived from *avis* is rarely used, since it is a cultism and would sound extravagant in common speaking. Another word for saying bird in catalan is _pardal_, derived from *pardalus*, that can mean only sparrow or any kind of little bird, depending on the catalan dialect. The diminutive of *passer*, *passerellu*, has derived to the word _passerell_, that is used for a only one kind of bird, (in english I have found it's called linnet). Another word for bird is _moixó_, derived from latin *muscione*, that meant little bird in latin, and that still means little bird in catalan, but dialectally can be used for any bird, even an ostrich.

Please excuse my english.


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## demalaga

This is an answer to Tom in Bahia
Catullus, famous Latin poet who lived in  1st century BC used a language more like the language "of the street".For example for "to kiss"  "basiare" instead of "osculare".He used "passer" with the meaning of "little bird kept as a pet".In poemm III you read
passer mortuus est meae puellae, passer, deliciae meae puellae, quem plus illa oculis suis amabat. nam mellitus erat .My girlfriend's bird is dead, wich she loved more than her own eyes, since it singen very well


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## MarX

vince said:


> In Latin it was Avis, and "aves" seems to be preserved in some languages.
> 
> But where do the forms that look like "paxaro" and "ocel" come from?


In which Romance language is bird called "paxaro"?
As far as I know, In Portuguese it's *pássaro* and in Spanish *pájaro*.

Salam


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## CapnPrep

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/paxaro


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## MarX

CapnPrep said:


> http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/paxaro


I see. 
Merci!


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