Half-orphan

[Mark A. Mandel]

Fritz wrote:

> This is a most curious term.  I had always thought an orphan was a person
> who had lost at least ONE parent, but not necessarily both. Therefore,
> half-orphan is superfluous for me.

Sagehen replied:
> This makes sense to me.  My own understanding of "orphan" is a minor child
> both of whose parents are dead (not merely absent).

My sense of the word is the same as hers.

I remember being quite surprised at the definition of the Esperanto word
"orfo" in either the authoritative Plena Vortaro or its successor, the
Plena Ilustrita Vortaro, which was equivalent to this "half-orphan". Fritz,
are you possibly being influenced by another language, such as wherever
Zamenhof took the definition of "orfo" from?

OED Online says:

A person, esp. a child, both of whose parents are dead (or, rarely, one of
whose parents has died). In extended use: an abandoned or neglected child.

Merriam-Webster Online has:

a child deprived by death of one or usually both parents

-- mark mandel