I ran across a Pinterest pin for the cutest oriel feeder. I had been looking for oriole feeders, so one for an oriel was intriguing. I had to wonder how an oriel window could be used on an oriole feeder.
That’s when I realized that, duh, the pinner must have meant oriole. Too bad, really, as I do love that historic architecture.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Oriel | Oriole |
|---|---|
 — |
.jpg) — |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Noun
Plural: oriels |
Noun
Plural: orioles |
[Architecture] A bay window in an upper story, supported from below by projecting corbels, or brackets of stone or wood. Usually semi-hexagonal or rectangular in plan.
[Also oriel window] A window in an oriel |
An Old World bird related to the starlings that feeds on fruit and insects, the male typically having bright yellow and black plumage
A New World bird of the American blackbird family, with black and orange or yellow plumage
|
| Examples: | |
| Victorian buildings in the Gothic Revival and Tudor styles often have oriel windows.
Eastlake Victorian, Chateauesque, and Queen Anne styles may combine oriel-like windows with turrets, which are characteristic of those styles. Some baroque and medieval examples include the Oriel Windows of St. Gallen Switzerland and Monmouth Priory in Geoffrey’s Window, Wales (Craven). |
The orioles showed up last weekend.
Mom just filled the oriole feeder yesterday. Female orioles build a hanging nest. Young was released by the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday after the club failed to find a trade partner. |
| History of the Word: | |
| Late Middle English from the Old French oriol meaning gallery and of unknown origin.
Oriels first became prevalent early in the 15th century and were a popular way of making the most of sunlight in a northern country such as Great Britain. They were often placed over gateways or entrances to manor houses and public buildings of the late Gothic and Tudor periods. They became popular again during the revivals of these styles in the 19th and early 20th centuries. |
The first known use was in 1768 from the medieval Latin oriolus (oriol in Old French), from the Latin aureolus, a diminutive of aureus meaning golden, from aurum meaning gold. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
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Resources for Oriel versus Oriole
Apple Dictionary.com
Craven, Jackie. “The Oriel Window — An Architectural Solution.” Thoughtco.com. Updated on 3 July 2019. Web. n.d. <http://architecture.about.com/od/buildingparts/g/oriel.htm>.
Encyclopedia Britannica: oriel
Pinterest Photo Credits
Altamira Oriole by Wildreturn and Male Hooded Oriole by Pets4Dawn are under the CC BY 2.0 license, via VisualHunt with their backgrounds removed, sitting in the [resized and flipped with more bricks added] Oriel Window Seat which is courtesy of IQ Glass, via Pinterest. Baseball Player by Keith Allison is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons, and its background has been removed.
Revised as of 16 Apr 2024
By: Kathy Davie