aigle

Eagle comes from Old French aigle, from Latin aquila. The Latin word's origin is uncertain — it may connect to aquilus (dark-colored) or to a pre-Latin Mediterranean word. Aquila was the Roman legionary standard: a golden eagle mounted on a pole, carried into battle by an aquilifer. Losing the eagle standard was the ultimate military disgrace. The eagle was Rome's symbol before it was America's.

The bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) was adopted as the national emblem of the United States in 1782. The 'bald' in its name comes from Middle English balled, meaning 'white' or 'white-headed' — the same root that survives in 'piebald' (patchy white). The adult bald eagle has a white head against a dark brown body. It is not bald. It is white-headed. The name has confused people for 250 years.

Benjamin Franklin famously objected to the eagle as the national bird in a letter to his daughter in 1784, calling it 'a bird of bad moral character' that steals fish from ospreys. He suggested the turkey instead. The letter was private and probably humorous, but it has been cited ever since by everyone who disagrees with an eagle-related decision. The eagle won the national debate. The turkey lost. Franklin's letter endured.

Eagles appear as national symbols across the world: Germany, Austria, Poland, Mexico, Egypt, Nigeria, and others. The double-headed eagle — looking both east and west — was the emblem of the Byzantine Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Russian Empire. The bird that the Romans carried on a pole as a military standard became the most common national symbol in the world. The Latin aquila stands behind most of them.