Did orphan ever refer to the losing of a father?

Solution 1:

The translation of ορφανους, orphanous in James 1:27 was rendered 'fatherless and motherless' in The Wycliffe translation of 1382. However The Wycliffe was taken from Jerome's Latin Vulgate, not the Greek original, so the Latin word may be more apposite in this case.

to visite fadirles and modirles children, and widewis in her tribulacioun, and to kepe hym silf vndefoulid fro this world.

However the translations from the Greek - the 1534 Tyndale, 1535 Coverdale, 1537 Matthew's, 1539 Great, 1560 Geneva, 1568 Bishop's and in both the 1611 and 1769 King James' translations - the Greek word ορφανους, orphanous was given as 'fatherless' only.

to visit the fatherlesse and widowes in their affliction, and to keepe himselfe vnspotted from the world. [KJV 1611]

All references from Textus Receptus Interlinear