History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 177

Corver (1491), a kind of Dutch herring fisher and fishing-boat; ad. M.Du. corver, a
fisherman and fishing-boat of some kind. Compare te corve varen, to go fishing in a
korfscip, korfharinck, a herring of some kind, korfmarct, the market where the fish is
sold.
Cag (1596), a small fishing-vessel; from Du. kaag, in the same sense, e.mod.Du.
kaghe (LG. kag); the Du. word has also given F. caque, a fishing-boat. Tode (1600, J.
Keymer, Dutch Fishing), more fully tode-boat, a small Dutch fishing-vessel; the origin
of the word is obscure, no similar term being known in Du.; Groningen dial, has
todden, to drag, tow, tug, todden, tod, as much as one can carry, burden, load; and
Guelderland and Overijssel dials. have todden, to drag, and perhaps the origin of the
Eng. word lies in a combination of one of these words with boat.
Crab-skuit (1614, Markham, Way to Wealth), a small open fishing-boat with sails; ad.
Du. krab-schuyte, from krabbe, crab, and schuit, boat.
Herring-buss (1615, E.S., Brit. Buss), a two- or three-masted vessel used in the
herring fishery; ad. Du. haringbuis.
Jagger (1615, E.S., Brit. Buss), a sailing-vessel which followed a fishing-fleet in order
to bring the fish from the busses, and to supply them with stores and provisions; ad.
Du. jager, abbreviation of haringjager, from haring, herring, and jagen, to chase,
pursue.
Hooker (1641, S. Smith, Royal Fishings), a two-masted Dutch coasting- or fishingvessel; (1801), a one-masted fishing-smack similar to a hoy in build; apparently
originally ad. Du. hoeker (in Hexham, hoecker-schip, ‘a dogger-boat’, in Kilian, hoeckboot, a fishing-boat, so called from hoeck, hook).
Pinkie, Pinky (1874), a narrow-sterned fishing-boat; from pink (see p. 70) and -ie, -y,
diminutives, or perhaps ad. M.Du. pinke.
Coper, Cooper (1881), a vessel fitted out to supply ardent spirits, &c., usually in
exchange for fish, to the deep-sea fishers of the North Sea, a floating grog-shop; ad.
Flem. and Du. kooper, Fris. and LG. koper, purchaser, dealer, trader, from koopen, to
buy, trade, deal; O.E.D. states that in the memory of Grimsby smacksmen the name
goes back to 1854, when Flemish and Dutch koopers first began to frequent the fleets.
The following are the terms for fishing-tackle.
Elger (c. 1440, Pr. Parv.), an eel-spear; perhaps from. Flem. aalgeer, elger, though it
may represent OE. ǽl, eel, and gár, spear.
Mesh (1558-9), one of the open spaces or interstices of a net; the 16th-century forms
are meishe, meash, mash, mesh; the form mash would regularly reproduce an O.E.
*maesc, which occurs only once in the metathetic form max, net; the forms meishe,

meash indicate a pronunciation with a long vowel (mēʃ), and mesh the shortening of
the original vowel, probably in ME. (cf. flesh); on the whole, on account of the absence
of the word in ME., its form-history in the 16th century, and the frequency with which

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