owl

owl · noun, verb¹

1. Proto-Germanic*uwwô
2. Proto-Germanic*uwwulǭ
3. Proto-West Germanic*uwwulā
4. Old Englishūle
5. Middle Englishoule
6. English todayowl

From Middle English howle, oul, oule, owle, owlle, from Old English ūle, from Proto-West Germanic *uwwulā, from Proto-Germanic *uwwulǭ (“owl”), diminutive of *uwwǭ (“eagle-owl”), of imitative origin or a variant of *ūfaz, *ūfǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *up- (“to cry out”). Cognates Cognate with Scots oul (“owl”), Saterland Frisian Ule (“owl”), West Frisian ûle (“owl”), Cimbrian aul (“owl”), Dutch uil (“owl”), German Eule (“owl”), Low German Uul (“owl”), Luxembourgish Eil (“owl”), Vilamovian aojł (“own”), Yiddish אײַל (ayl, “owl”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål ugle (“owl”), Faroese ugla (“owl”), Icelandic uggla, ugla (“owl”), Norwegian Nynorsk ugla, ule (“owl”), Swedish uggla, uv (“owl”); also Bulgarian во́пъл (vópăl, “cry, howl, scream”), въпи́я (văpíja, “to weep, yell”), Czech úpět (“to howl, wail”), Russian вопи́ть (vopítʹ, “to howl, scream, yell”), вопия́ть (vopijátʹ, “to appeal; to scream, yell; to lament, wail”), вопль (voplʹ, “cry, scream, wail”), Serbo-Croatian ва̀пити, vàpiti (“to cry out; to scream”), Slovene vpíti (“to scream, yell”).

Owl · noun²

Named from the Owlerton stadium where they used to play.

First known use, by meaning

• from 8th c. Any of various birds of prey of the order Strigiformes, families Strigidae and Tytonidae, that are primarily nocturnal and have forward-looking, binocular vision, limited eye movement, and good hearing.
• from 14th c. A person seen as having owl-like characteristics, especially appearing wise or serious, or being nocturnally active.
• from 18th c. An owl pigeon.