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.
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