hafoc

The Old English hafoc comes from Proto-Germanic *habukaz, which may derive from a root meaning 'to seize' or 'to catch.' Hawks are seizers. The word has cognates across Germanic languages: German Habicht, Dutch havik, Old Norse haukr. The bird has been known by this name in Germanic-speaking lands for as long as those languages have been spoken.

Hawks and falcons are different families of birds — Accipitridae and Falconidae — but the words are used loosely in everyday English. Red-tailed hawks soar over American highways. Cooper's hawks raid bird feeders. Harris's hawks hunt in cooperative groups, one of the few raptors that do so. The word 'hawk' in English covers a much broader range of species than 'falcon,' which is more taxonomically precise.

The verb 'to hawk' (to sell goods loudly in the street) comes from a completely different word: Middle Low German höker or hōker (a peddler, a hawker). A hawker who sells fish has nothing to do with a hawk that catches mice. The two words merged in English spelling by coincidence, and the overlap has confused people for centuries. The bird hawks (seizes prey). The vendor hawks (cries wares). Same sound, different origins.

In American politics, 'hawk' and 'dove' became shorthand for positions on military intervention during the Vietnam War. A hawk favored aggressive action; a dove favored peace. The metaphor persists: foreign policy hawks, fiscal hawks, inflation hawks. The bird of prey became a symbol of aggression in political vocabulary, while the bird of peace — the dove — took the opposite position. The ornithological debate became a political one.