Translation Blog

Chouette

July 31, 2006

Owl
Chouette chouette

Chouette, adjective
Great. From Old French choeter, to be appearance-conscious, smart, or from Italian civetta (a smart, appearance-conscious woman).

Chouette, feminine noun
Owl. Diminutive form of Old French choue, from popular Latin cawa.

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UPDATE

Oh dear. This is not a chouette, it's a hibou (it's got ears!). I hope I haven't offended nocturnal bird lovers.

Posted by céline, in Words, on July 31, 2006
Comments

I think an owl like the one in the picture is called "hibou", not "chouette". Was "chouette" ever generic over owls with "ears" too, or is my 19th century French dictionary (which suggests that it was once) just not to be trusted about birds ?

Posted by ASM on July 31, 2006 3:56 PM

Well spotted. I checked and you're right, if it's got ears, it's a "hibou". Somehow I always thought that a "hibou" was a male "chouette", possibly because of the expressions "vieux hibou" and "vieille chouette" for bad-tempered old people of both sexes... Thanks!

Posted by céline on July 31, 2006 4:07 PM

Thank you Celine for another interesting blog topic. We wonder if you are able to tell us the most common domestic owl..?

That's right.. it's a teet owl! Fnar fnar

Posted by Beth and Victoria on July 31, 2006 7:23 PM

Hibou moyen-duc?

Posted by MM on July 31, 2006 8:51 PM

I really wish I had looked at the card that bore his name, but from a quick research, it looks like it's a hibou grand-duc (Eagle Owl).

Posted by céline on August 1, 2006 8:09 AM

In that case it doesn't deserve a diminutive!

Posted by MM on August 1, 2006 9:13 AM

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