gyrfalcon

English

Alternative forms

• gerfalcon, gyr falcon, jerfalcon

Etymology

From Old French gerfaucon (modern French gerfaut), with the first element probably from Old High German gīr (“vulture”) (whence the German Geier).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdʒɜːfɔːlkən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɝˌfælkən/

Noun

gyrfalcon (plural gyrfalcons)

1. (obsolete) Any large falcon, especially as used to fly at herons.
   • 1668 June 22 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), John Dryden, An Evening’s Love, or The Mock-Astrologer. […], In the Savoy [London]: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1671, →OCLC, Act IV, page 53:

     For I obſerve, that all vvomen of your condition are like the vvomen of the Play-houſe, ſtill Piquing at each other, vvho ſhall go the beſt Dreſt, and in the Richeſt Habits: till you vvork up one another by your high flying, as the Heron and Jerfalcon do.

2. Falco rusticolus, a large bird of prey that breeds on Arctic coasts and islands of North America, Europe and Asia.
   • 2007, Michael Chabon, Gentlemen of the Road, Sceptre, published 2008, page 132:

     [T]he usurper Buljan ordered that his sukkah be erected on the donjon's roof, with its […] relative nearness to the stars, among which his sky-worshiping and uncircumcised ancestors still hunted with infallible gyrfalcons for celestial game.

Translations

falcon — see falcon

Falco rusticolus

• Bashkir: шоңҡар (şoñqar)
• Belarusian: крэ́чат m (kréčat)
• Bulgarian: северен сокол m (severen sokol)
• Catalan: girfalc m, falcó sagrat m, grifó (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 海東青／海东青 (zh) (hǎidōngqīng), 海青 (hǎiqīng), 矛隼 (máosǔn), 鶻鷹／鹘鹰 (húyīng)

• Czech: raroh lovecký m
• Danish: jagtfalk (da) c
• Dutch: giervalk (nl) m
• Esperanto: ĉasfalko, girfalko
• Estonian: jahipistrik (et)
• Faroese: veiðifalkur m
• Finnish: tunturihaukka (fi)
• French: gerfaut (fr) m
• German: Gierfalke m, Geierfalke m, Gerfalke (de) m, Jagdfalke m
• Greenlandic: kissaviarsuk
• Icelandic: fálki (is) m, valur (is) m
• Irish: fabhcún tuaithe m
• Italian: girfalco m, girifalco m
• Japanese: シロハヤブサ (ja) (shirohayabusa)
• Kazakh: сұңқар (sūñqar), лашын (laşyn)
• Korean: 쇠황조롱이 (soehwangjorong'i)
• Kumyk: шункъар (şunqar)
• Latvian: medību piekūns
• Manchu: ᡥᠠᡳᠴᡳᠩ (haicing), ᡧᠣᠩᡴᠣᠨ (šongkon), ᡧᠣᠩᡴᠣᠨ
  ᡤᠠᠰᡥᠠ (šongkon gasha), ᡧᠣᠩᡴᠣᡵᠣ (šongkoro)
• Manx: shawk Eeslannagh m, shawk Greenlannagh m, urley bane m
• Mongolian: цагаан шонхор (cagaan šonxor), жадан шонхор (žadan šonxor)
• Navajo: hakʼaz giníłgaii
• Northern Sami: rievssatfálli
• Norwegian: jaktfalk (no) m
• Old Norse: geirfalki m, geirfugl m
• Ottoman Turkish: آق طوغان (ak doğan), شاهباز (şahbaz)
• Persian: لاچین (fa) (lâčin)
• Polish: białozór (pl) m, krzeczot m
• Portuguese: gerifalte m
• Romanian: șoim islandez m
• Russian: кре́чет (ru) m (kréčet)
• Scottish Gaelic: seabhag-mhòr-na-seilge f
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: běłozor m

• Spanish: gerifalte (es) m, halcón gerifalte (es) m, gerifalco m
• Swedish: jaktfalk (sv) c
• Tatar: шоңкар (tt) (şoñkar)
• Turkish: aksungur (tr), akdoğan (tr)
• Ukrainian: кре́чет (uk) m (kréčet)
• Welsh: hebog chwyldro m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Further reading

• gyrfalcon on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Falco rusticolus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies