# onager
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English onager, onagir (“wild ass; military catapult”), from Anglo-Norman onager, Middle French onager, onagre, Old French onager, onagre (“wild ass; military catapult”) (modern French onagre), from Late Latin onager (“large siege engine”), Latin onager (“wild ass”), from Hellenistic Ancient Greek ὄναγρος (ónagros, “wild ass”), Byzantine Ancient Greek ὄναγρος (ónagros, “large siege engine”), from ὄνος (ónos, “ass”) + ἄγριος (ágrios, “wild”) (from ᾰ̓γρός (ăgrós, “countryside; field”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- (“to drive”)) + -ῐος (-ĭos, suffix forming adjectives)).
The “military engine” sense alludes to the strong recoil of the engine, likened to an onager’s kick; see the 2007 quotation.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈɒnəd͡ʒə/, /-ɡə/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (General American) IPA: /ˈɑnəd͡ʒɚ/, /ˈɔː-/
* Hyphenation: ona‧ger

### Noun

onager (plural onagers or onagri)
* The Asiatic wild ass or hemione (Equus hemionus), an animal of the horse family native to Asia; specifically, the Persian onager, Persian wild ass, or Persian zebra (Equus hemionus onager).
    Synonym: (obsolete) hemionus
** 1785, Count de Buffon [i.e., Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon], “The Zebra. [Supplement.]”, in William Smellie, transl., Natural History, General and Particular, [...] Translated into English. […], 2nd edition, volume VI, London: Printed for W[illiam] Strahan and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 275:[I]f the czigithai is not the ſame with the zebra, it may be the Aſiatic animal called onager or wild aſs. The onager ſhould not be confounded with the zebra; but I am uncertain whether the ſame remark is applicable to the onager and czigithai; for, from comparing the relations of travellers, it appears, that there are different kinds of wild aſſes, of which the onager is the moſt remarkable. […] The ſwiftneſs of the onager is mentioned by travellers, who remark, that he runs with ſuch rapidity as to eſcape the hunters, though mounted on horſes; […]
** 1791, Oliver Goldsmith, “Of the Ass”, in An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. […], new edition, volume II, London: […] F[rancis] Wingrave, successor to Mr. [John] Nourse, […], →OCLC, page 345:The onager, or wild aſs, is ſeen in ſtill greater abundance than the wild horſe; and the peculiarities of its kind are more diſtinctly marked than in thoſe of the tame one.
** 1875, Jules Verne, chapter VI, in W[illiam] H[enry] G[iles] Kingston [actually Agnes Kinloch Kingston], transl., The Mysterious Island: The Secret of the Island: Translated from the French, volume III, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, & Searle […], →OCLC, pages 82–83:One of the onagers, however, having hurt its leg, could not be harnessed at present, and a few days' rest was necessary.
* (military, historical) A military engine acting like a sling which threw stones from a bag or wooden bucket powered by the torsion from a bundle of ropes or sinews operated by machinery; a torsion catapult.
    Hypernym: catapult
    Coordinate terms: mangonel, trebuchet
** 2007, Jeff Kinard, “Ancient and Medieval Artillery”, in Artillery: An Illustrated History of Its Impact (Weapons and Warfare Series), Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 17:The onager, meaning "wild ass," derived its name from its powerful recoil, or kick, upon discharge; […] In addition, although Josephus described an onager in action hurling a 100-pound stone over 400 yards, most onagri achieved a shorter range than the ballista, thus exposing their crews to enemy archers.

#### Hyponyms

* (wild ass):
** khulan, koulan, kulan (Equus hemionus kulan)
** khur, Indian wild ass (Equus hemionus khur)
** chigetai, dziggetai, Mongolian wild ass (Equus hemionus hemionus)
** hemippe, achdari, Syrian wild ass, Mesopotamian onager, Syrian onager (†Equus hemionus hemippus)

#### Related terms

* onagga (“dauw or striped quagga”)

#### Translations
### References

* ↑ “onager, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 26 January 2019.
* ↑ “onager, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2004; “onager”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

### Further reading

* “onager”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

### Anagrams

* Gerona, Gorean, Orange, Ragone, groane, orange

## Dutch
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin onager, from Ancient Greek ὄναγρος (ónagros).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /oːˈnaː.ɣər/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: ona‧ger
* Rhymes: -aːɣər

### Noun

onager m (plural onagers)
* onager, Asiatic wild ass, Equus hemionus
    Synonyms: halfezel, woudezel
* (historical) onager (Roman torsion catapult)

## Latin
### Alternative forms

* onagrus

### Etymology

From Hellenistic Ancient Greek ὄναγρος (ónagros, “wild ass”), from ὄνος (ónos, “ass”) + ἄγριος (ágrios, “wild”).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈo.na.ɡer/, [ˈɔnäɡɛr]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈo.na.d͡ʒer/, [ˈɔːnäd͡ʒer]

### Noun

onager m (genitive onagrī); second declension
* wild ass; onager
* onager (type of military engine)

#### Declension

Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -er).

#### Descendants

* French: onagre
* Italian: onagro
* Portuguese: onagro
* Spanish: onagro
* → English: onager

#### See also

* ballista
* catapulta

#### Further reading

* “onager”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “onager”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* onager in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* “onager”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

## Old French
### Etymology

From Latin onager.

### Noun

onager oblique singular, m (oblique plural onagers, nominative singular onagers, nominative plural onager)
* (clarification of this definition is needed)onager

## Polish
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ὄναγρος (ónagros).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɔˈna.ɡɛr/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -aɡɛr
* Syllabification: o‧na‧ger

### Noun

onager m animal
* onager (the Asiatic wild ass or hemione (Equus hemionus), an animal of the horse family native to Asia; specifically, the Persian onager, Persian wild ass, or Persian zebra (Equus hemionus onager))
    Synonyms: dżigitaj, kułan, kułan azjatycki, osioł azjatycki

#### Declension
### Noun

onager m inan
* (military, historical) onager (a military engine acting like a sling which threw stones from a bag or wooden bucket powered by the torsion from a bundle of ropes or sinews operated by machinery; a torsion catapult)

#### Declension
### References

* ↑ Mirosław Bańko, Lidia Wiśniakowska (2021) “onager”, in Wielki słownik wyrazów obcych, →ISBN
* ↑ “onager”, in Słownik gramatyczny języka polskiego [Grammatical Dictionary of Polish], 2022
* ↑ “onager”, in Słownik gramatyczny języka polskiego [Grammatical Dictionary of Polish], 2022

### Further reading

* onager in Polish dictionaries at PWN
* onager in Narodowy Fotokorpus Języka Polskiego