The word orgues derives from the same Latin root, organum, as organe¹, but abbreviates the form through a vocalisation (and loss of the ‘n’) of the second syllable.

The form ‘orgne’ has been re-interpreted as ‘orgue’, and is therefore included in this entry. However, an alternative possibility would be to read ‘orgues’ as ‘orgnes’, and, conversely, interpret that form and its citations as belonging to the article for organe¹. Ultimately, both forms seem to have co-existed (with the form orgues prevailing in Modern French). Because of the difficulty of unequivocally distinguishing ‘u’ from ‘n’ in medieval manuscripts, the two articles will inevitably overlap.

In contrast to organe ¹, Anglo-Norman has at least two attestations of the word clearly referring to a pipe-organ. For historical information on the organ, sent by Edward of Caernarfon (the future King Edward II) to his sister Mary of Woodstock, from his residence in Langley in 1305, see J.S. Hamilton, ‘The Character of Edward II: The Letters of Edward of Caernarfon Reconsidered’, in The Reign of Edward II: New Perspectives, ed. by Gwilym Dodd and Anthony Musson, York Medieval Press, York, 2006, 5-21 (pp. 9 and 16).

One attestation remains problematic, listed here, provisionally, under ‘musical instrument’. In Eluc the saints might be playing sweet ‘organs’ or ‘lyres’. They might even be ‘[singing] sweet hymns’ (cf. DMLBS organum 2053b, senses 8 ‘song, hymn’ and 9 ‘music, esp. vocal as dist. from instrumental’). The textual context does not clarify this any further.