ortolan

From Middle French hortolan (“gardener”), from Latin hortulānus (“gardener”). Doublet of hortulan.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɔː.təl.ən/, /ˈɔː.təl.æn/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɔɹ.tə.læn/, /ˈɔɹ.tə.lən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

ortolan (plural ortolans)

1. A small European migratory bunting (Emberiza hortulana), once eaten whole as a delicacy.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter VI, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VII:

     […] this taught him to consider Sophia as a most delicious morsel, indeed to regard her with the same desires which an ortolan inspires into the soul of an epicure.

   • 2003, Stewart Lee Allen, In the Devil's Garden: A Sinful History of Forbidden Food, page 73:

     […] the last flavor Mitterrand wished to savor belonged to the flesh of the endangered ortolan, a songbird the size of a human toe that is a crime to buy or hunt, and is certainly illegal to eat. Mitterrand devoured it in the traditional manner, first covering his head with an embroidered cloth, then inserting the entire bird into his mouth. […] Only its head should dangle out from between your lips. Bite off the head and discard.

2. (US) Any of various similar birds, especially the bobolink, sora, or snow bunting.
3. The greater short-toed lark (Calandrella brachydactyla).

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:ortolan.

• ortolan bunting

Borrowed from Italian ortolano, from Latin hortulānus (“gardener”). Doublet of hortelain, found in regional usage.

• IPA^(key): /ɔʁ.tɔ.lɑ̃/
• Homophone: Ortholan

ortolan m (plural ortolans)

1. ortolan (small bird)

   Synonym: bruant ortolan

   Hypernym: bruant

• horticulture

• “ortolan” in Dictionnaire français en ligne Larousse.
• “ortolan” in Émile Littré, Dictionnaire de la langue française, 1872–1877.
• “ortolan”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Borrowed from French ortolan, from Middle French hortolan, from Latin hortulānus.

• IPA^(key): /ɔrˈtɔ.lan/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔlan
• Syllabification: or‧to‧lan

ortolan m animal

1. ortolan (small bird eaten as a delicacy)

• ortolan in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Borrowed from French ortolan.

ortolan m (plural ortolani)

1. ortolan