History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 175

Whiting (14.., Nom. in Wr.-Wü., c. 1425), a small fish with pearly-white flesh abundant off the coast of Great Britain and highly esteemed as food; ad. M.Du. wijting, also wittingh (MLG. wîtink). Names of fish from Low Dutch are more numerous in the modern period. Lump (1545), a spiny-finned fish of a leaden blue colour and uncouth appearance, the sea-owl; found also as M.Du. lompe, MHG. lumpen, G. lump, lumpfisch, F. lompe; by foreign etymologists it has been commonly supposed to be of English origin, a use of the sb. lump with reference to the bulky figure of the fish; the Du. forms are, however, known from earlier examples than the Eng., and the word in Eng. may be a borrowing from Low Dutch. Pickle-herring (c. 1570), a pickled herring; appears first as pickled herring, later pickle-herring, after M.Du. or e.mod.Du. peeckel-harinck, MLG. pekel-herink, both in the same sense. Scaffling (1589), a kind of eel; ad. M.Du. sc(h)afteling(h), scaflingh. Dorse (1610), a young cod; ad. LG. dorsch, in the same sense. Haye (1613, Purchas), a shark or a particular species of shark; ad. Du. haai, plural haaien, W. Flem. haaie (in Kilian, 1599, haeye), whence also Sw. haj, G. hai, shark. Quab (1617), a sea-slug, also an eelpout; (1628), a crude or shapeless thing; ad. M.Du. and MLG. quabbe, Du. kwab, kwabbe, LG. quabbe, burbot, eelpout, goby, tadpole. Garnel, Gernel (1694), a species of shrimp; ad. Du. garnaal, dial, garneel, shrimp. Cabilliau, Cabeliau (1696, W. Montague, Delights of Holland), codfish, codfish which has been salted and hung for a few days, but not thoroughly dried; ad. F. cabillaud, cabliau, or Du. kabeljauw, a name used, according to Franck, by all the coast Germans since the 14th century (MLG. kabelaw, G. kabliau, kabeljau, Sw. kabeljo, Da. kabeljau); it has generally been regarded as a transposed form of bakeljauw, bakkeljau, bacalao, which is, however, not compatible with the history of the word. Snook (1697, Dampier), a name given to various fishes, esp. to the sergeant fish and the robalo; ad. Du. snoek, pike. Brassy (1710), the Sc. form of brasse. Brassem (1731), a kind of fish, perhaps a seabream; ad. Du. brasem (M.Du. brasem, braessem, in Kilian braessem; the form corresponds to MLG. brassem). Brasse (1847), a name of a fish of the perch family; probably from MLG. brasse, ‘eyn brasse’, ‘salmo’. Crucian, Crusian (1763), a species of fish, a native of central Europe, of a deep yellow colour; formed with the suffix -an and accommodated spelling from earlier or dial. LG. karusse, karuse, karutze. Crape-fish (1856), codfish, salted and hardened by pressure; perhaps from LG. krapp, hard, twisted (rope), hardbaked. 175