Orphan

Orphan (pronounced awr-fuhn)

(1) A person who has lost one or both parents through death (now usually used only if both parents have died); term is used only with children or older minors and in informal use is sometimes extended to an abandoned child.

(2) A young animal left motherless by death or desertion.

(3) Figuratively, a person or thing without protective affiliation, sponsorship, etc.

(4) In typography (applied especially in word processing) the first line of a paragraph when it appears alone at the bottom of a page.

(5) Figuratively, something not (or no longer) authorized, supported, or funded; not part of a system; isolated; abandoned.

(6) In computing, any unreferenced object or a process, the parent of which has terminated.

(7) In medicine, as orphan disease (a rare disease) or orphan drug (something developed under the US Orphan Drug Act (1983) for orphan diseases.

(8) In biochemistry, as orphan receptor, apparent receptor that has a similar structure to other identified receptors but whose endogenous ligand has not yet been identified.

(9) In nuclear physics, as orphan source, a self-contained radioactive source that is no longer under proper regulatory control.

(10) In the automotive industry, cars still in use built by a manufacturer which has entirely ceased operations (applied informally also to vehicles produced to defunct divisions of parent corporations (eg Imperial, Pontiac).

(11) In the matter of technology, literature and other copyrighted material, something abandoned by its owner or where the copyright holder is untraceable; in reference to software the slang term is “abandonware”.

1425–1475: The noun was from the late Middle English, from the Late Latin orphanus (destitute, without parents), from orbus (bereaved), from the Ancient Greek ὀρφανός (orphanós) (without parents, fatherless; bereaved (literally “deprived”)), from orphos (bereft), from the primitive Indo-European orbho (bereft of father (also "deprived of free status”), from the root orbh- (to change allegiance, to pass from one status to another), source also of the Hittite harb- (change allegiance), the Sanskrit arbhah (weak, child), the Armenian orb (orphan), the Old Irish orbe (heir), the Old Church Slavonic rabu (slave), the rabota (servitude ( and related to the modern robot), the Gothic arbja, the German erbe, the Old English ierfa (heir), the Old High German arabeit, the German Arbeit (work), the Old Frisian arbed and the Old English earfoð (hardship, suffering, trouble")..  It was cognate with the Sanskrit अर्भ (árbha), the Latin orbus, (bereaved), the Old High German erbi, & arbi (hence the German Erbe (heir)) and the Old English ierfa (heir).  The Late Latin orphanós was the source also of the Old French orfeno & orphenin and the Italian orfano.  The extinct alternative spelling was orphane and the plural is orphans.

The verb use (to reduce to the state of being an orphan) dates from circa 1814.  It was used as an adjective from the late fifteenth century, the figurative use emerging at the same time.  The syndicated newspaper cartoon strip Little Orphan Annie (1924-2010) created by Harold Gray (1894-1968) was originally titled Little Orphant Annie after the title of James Whitcomb Riley's (1849-1916) 1885 poem Little Orphant Allie (though it was originally titled The Elf Child, the name was changed by Riley for the third printing; it was a typesetting error which substituted “orphan” for “orphant”. Orphant was an old, corrupt form of orphan, attested from the seventeenth century.

The noun orphanage dates from the 1570s and originally meant “the condition of being an orphan", the more familiar modern meaning "a home for orphans" not used until 1850.  Other words for "the condition of being an orphan" have included orphanhood (1670s), orphancy (1580s), orphanism (1590s) & orphanship (1670s) and in Middle English there was the mid-fifteenth century orphanite (desolation, wretchedness).  The early forms to describe the building in which orphans were housed were orphan house (1711), orphan-asylum (1796) & orphanry (1872).  Orphanage prevailed over the others for no good etymological reason (some critics noting homes for girls weren’t called “girlages”) but despite there being a risk of confusion with the sixteenth century sense of “the condition of being an orphan", it was preferred and orphanhood came to be the standard form of description for the state despite the objection of pedants who insisted the English “-hood” should never be affixed to a Greek or Roman root; a long-lost battle even then.  The purists had more success in fighting off "Orphanotrophy" although the less objectionable "Orphanry" (as in “aviary”), although achieving the tick of approval from the lexicographers, seems never to have caught on, people presumably not attracted by the alignment of places for children being linguistically aligned with zoos.

In antiquity, an orphan was one who had lost both parents but in English use, by the seventeenth century, the status of orphanhood was afforded to a child who had lost either.  That lead to constructions which defined the differential state (half-orphan, double orphan, maternal orphan & paternal orphan and all the classifications were applied in a variety of ways, on both sides of the Atlantic, matters applying to children administered usually by local authorities so regional differences were common, some insisting the status of an orphan was created only upon the death of one or both parents while in other places desertion was sometimes sufficient.  The age at which one could, whatever the nature of the loss, cease to be regarded as an orphan was also inconsistent until the modern state evolved but the idea always was it ceased with adulthood but this tended sometimes to be a functional judgment based on prevailing social and economic conditions; it could be as young as fourteen at a time when workforce participation (male and female) was common.

The modern practice has long been an orphan is a minor who has lost both parents but UNICEF (the United Nations Children's Fund (originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund but the name was changed in 1953, UNICEF retained as the name though no longer technically an acronym), UNAIDS (the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS) and some NGOs (non-governmental organizations) label as an orphan any child who has lost one parent.  This is a practical approach which acknowledges the often severe consequences which follow from the loss of one parent.

The verse in the New Testament which imposes on all a duty to care for orphans is often quoted:

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…" (James 1:27 (KJV 1611)).

Less often cited are the passages from the Old Testament in which it’s threatened the wrath of God will make orphans of the children of he who mistreats an orphan:

22 Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.

23 If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry;

24 And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless. (Exodus 22:22-24 (KJV 1611)).

The holy Qu'ran has a number of passages which make clear the duty of all to care for orphans and not take from them:

Give orphans their property, and do not substitute bad things for good. Do not assimilate their property into your own. Doing that is a serious crime.  (The Women: 2).

Keep a close check on orphans until they reach a marriageable age, then if you perceive that they have sound judgement hand over their property to them... (The Women: 6).

1932 Studebaker Dictator.  Studebaker used Dictator as a model name between 1927-1937 and there was not political connotation, the word in 1927 not having the associations it would later gain.  By 1937 things had changed and the name was dropped.

Studebaker had a long and storied history, its origin in a German blacksmithing business (1736-1750), the family moving to the US and beginning the production of carriages and carts in 1852, its first automobiles actually electric cars offered in 1902 before the sale of petrol-powered models in 1904.  The powered-range grew quickly and by 1919, Studebaker ceased production of horse-drawn carriages, a decision vindicated by its success in the 1920s.  Like many other concerns however, the Great Depression of the early 1930s mauled its business and Studebaker was forced to enter bankruptcy although a reorganization and a financial re-structuring arranged by the venerable Lehman Brothers permitted it soon to resume operating, the improving economic conditions of the mid-1930s ensuring ongoing profitability.

Studebaker US6 truck in Red Army use, configured as mobile Katyusha rocket launcher, circa 1943.

Like many US corporations, some of its golden years came during World War II when industrial capacity was given over to government contracts fulfilling military production.  A variety of materiel was produced but Studebaker’s most notable contribution to the war effort was the versatile US6 (G630 in the government purchasing system) 2½ (short) ton 6x6 trucks, over a hundred and fifty thousand of which were supplied to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease programme.  Built in many configurations, the most memorable adaptation by the Red Army was as a mobile platform for the BM-31-12 (nickname: Andryusha) Katyusha rocket launcher, known to the enemy as “Stalin’s organs” because of the the distinctive sound of the rockets; the Russian army is still using the concept in their invasion of Ukraine.  The US6 proved popular with the army which found it much superior to the locally-made ZIS-5 & GAZ-AA and better even than the captured German trucks with Maybach engines which (belying the German reputation for “good beer, good engines, good sausages"), were prone to overheating under extreme loads, unlike the Studebakers which never boiled.  The tale may be apocryphal but it’s claimed Comrade Stalin (1878–1953; leader of the USSR, 1922-1953) even wrote a letter of appreciation to Studebaker, mentioning how important the US6 had been to the Red Army.

1964 Studebaker Avanti R2.

Studebaker had ups and downs after the war but the long-term trend was down.  By the early 1960s the writing was on the wall but there was one last roll of the dice, a gamble that would be either the savior of the corporation or the final nail in the coffin.  Released in 1962, the Avanti straddled a spectrum of the market, seen mostly as what would come to be called a personal coupe, it was also the company’s halo car and, most unexpectedly, something of a pony car and muscle car before either segment really existed.  Offered in three versions: (1) the R1 with a 289 cubic inch (4.7 litre) V8 rated at 240 horsepower, (2) the with R2 with a Paxton supercharger with gained 50 horsepower and, (3) the exotic 304 cubic inch (5.0 litre) R3 with 335 horsepower (only nine of which were built).  Performance was good, the Avanti at least competitive with the competition and to prove the slipperiness of the fibreglass body, styled by French-born, US-based designer Raymond Loewy (1893-1986), the company took an R3 to to the Bonneville Salt Flats, where it set 29 production car records, posting a top speed of almost 170 mph (273 km/h).

The Avanti’s appearance at the time was quite startling and the reception it received after being shown in New York in 1962 was generally positive but almost immediately the project encountered problems.  Because the car was expected to sell in relatively low volumes of around twenty-thousand a year and the body was rendered with complex curves, production in steel or aluminum was never considered, the panels instead molded in fibreglass, then still a more respectable material than it would later become.  Each Avanti however needed over one-hundred fiberglass components and the contractor experienced some difficulty in mass-producing them with the necessary tolerances, the ensuing delay meaning that in its first full year on sale, barely 1,200 reached customers, a disappointing debut for a car expected to rescue the corporation from impending bankruptcy.  Studebaker’s parlous finances were by now public knowledge and although things improved in 1963, buyers were scarce and fewer than 4,000 Avantis were sold, well below the volume at which it was economically viable.  The next year, the factory booked orders for fewer than a 1000 and, bowing to the inevitable, Studebaker announced the end of the Avanti and it turned out to be a harbinger, all their production ceasing in 1966, the corporation dissolved shortly afterwards.

At that point the Avanti should, like literally thousands of others, have become an orphan, a model cast adrift by the death of the parent corporation.  However, the Avanti, which should have been Studebaker’s swansong, turned out to be a phoenix, the model attracting no fewer than five subsequent owners who, between 1965 and 2006, produced 3840 Avantis using a variety of drive-train combinations from the Detroit parts bin, some with convertible coachwork and even a handful of four-door sedans.  Even more a niche model than it had been under Studebaker’s parentage, in its best year as an orphan a mere 289 left the factory but for four decades (profitably and sometimes not) it was sustained by a small but devoted clientele and even today the survivors have an enthusiastic following, the most desirable of the early cars typically attracting over US$40,000 at auction.

The orphan Avanti production numbers, 1966-2006.