AFAIK in French (and we're talink about French here) Orchestre means orchestra, but in a more common way may also refer to small groups, a chamber music ensemble for example, or a band. The word band is used in french, but it is an anglicism (AFAIK). Our native french speaking persons will certainly correct me.
over to the rest of Europe:
In Dutch, Orkest certainly means a large group, probably very similar if not identical to what you'd think about as an orchestra. In German, it's like in dutch. For a small group, there is the archaic word Kapelle, which in Dutch is actually only used for brass bands playing at carneval festivities and the like.
In Italian it seems to be that the word orchestre is again used for smaller groups.
Maybe it's a roman vs. german language thing?