Where does “oiseau-mouche” come from?

oiseau-mouche (French) comes from French oiseau, from Middle French oyseau, from Old French oisel, from Latin aucellus, from Latin avis, from English avifauna, from Latin fauna — animals.

oiseau-mouche (French): hummingbird

Definitions

  1. hummingbird

Ancestry of “oiseau-mouche”, step by step

oiseau-mouche traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via French oiseau

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchoiseaubird
2Middle Frenchoyseaubird
3Old Frenchoiselbird
4Latinaucellusbird; sparrow
5Latinavisa bird; omen, portent; dative/ablative plural of...
6EnglishavifaunaThe birds, or all the kinds of birds, inhabiting...
7Latinfaunaanimals

via French mouche

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchmouchefly; bullseye; a spy employed by the ancien...
2Middle Frenchmouschefly
3Old Frenchmousche—
4Latinmuscaa fly; an inquisitive or prying people
5Ancient Greekμυῖαa fly
6Proto-Indo-Europeanmūs-fly, stinging fly, gnat; moist, damp; swamp,...
Every word from Latin fauna →Every word from Latin avis →Every word from English avifauna →