Fish Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘devil’ and now look at ‘fish’.

Fish out of water is first seen around 1750.

Nobody was said to drink like a fish until 1744.

We have had other fish to fry since the 1650s.

Fish-eye, a type of lens, is first recorded in 1961.

Fish and chips made its debut in 1876.

Fish-fingers first appeared in 1962.

Fishing boats are seen for the first time in 1732, although they had obviously existed for millennia.

Fishing rods are recorded from the 1550s.

Fishing poles are seen from 1791.

Fish stories have been told since 1819, these being highly exaggerated.

Fish hooks must have used for a long time, although not described as such until the late 14th century.

Fish food is first mentioned in 1860 when it referred to fish eaten by humans as food. Three years later and we find the first reference to food fed to fish.

Nobody described their aquarium as a fish tank until 1921.m

Goldfish have been known as such since the 1690s.

Fishnet has been, from prehistory, something used to catch fish. Since 1881 used to refer to a stitch resembling that seen in a net, and since 1912 a reference to women’s attire.

Fishmongers are first referred to as such in the middle of the 15th century.

Fishbowls make their debut in 1850.

Fishwife, used in an unkind sense to mean simply ‘woman’, is seen from the 1520s – an alternative, which fell out of favour rather soon after, was fish-fag.

Fishponds have been around since the middle of the 15th century, although these will have been for food fish rather than ornamental.

We have been overfishing since 1813.

Panfish, that is a fish of grew the right size to fit in a pan for cooking, is first described in 1814.

Flatfish, not a species but those which appear flat, are first described in 1710.

Jellyfish may be among the oldest lifeforms on the planet, but nobody called them that until 1796. By 1883 the term described someone of weak character.

Fishy, as in ‘questionable’, is an adverb first seen in the late 15th century.

Boat Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘top’ and now look at ‘boat’.

We were ‘all in the same boat’ for the first time in the 1580s.

Although nobody ‘rocked the boat’ until 1914.

A jolly-boat is a small boat hoisted at the stern of a vessel, first recorded in 1727.

Boats may have been around since prehistory, but nobody mentioned a boathouse until 1722.

Norsemen may have been associated with longboats, but the term was also used for the longest and strongest boat carried on a sailing ship from 1510.

Lifeboats are first mentioned in 1785, although there is no clear connection with savings lives at sea until 1801.

Motorboats have been recorded since 1875.

U-boats are first seen in 1914, this the abbreviation of the German Unterseeboot or ‘undersea boat’.

Dreamboat is first used to describe one who someone saw as desirable in 1947, but the term is used in the title When My Dream Boat Comes Home a song from 1936, and is also seen in 1929 as the title of a book in Dream Boat.

Boatswain, a minor officer on board a vessel, is seen from the middle of the 15th century.

Houseboats are first mentioned in 1790.

Rowboats are seen from the 1530s.

The term ‘sailboat’ is seen from 1769.

Tugboats are recorded from 1830.

Gunboats are recorded from 1793.

Showboat, as in a river steamer on which theatrical performances are held, is seen from 1838 – the modern use is more likely to refer to someone showing off and has been so since 1951.

Moldova Place Names Explained

Having blogged samples of my books on English place names and also examined the etymologies of the nations of the world and their respective capitals I thought it time I cast my net a little wider. As English place names share some links to other tongues it would be interesting to see if any of the elements contributing to our place names could be found elsewhere. Continuing an alphabetical tour of the world and a look at the largest Moldovan cities.

Chisinau, also known as Kishinev, is of uncertain origin but most often said to be from an early Romanian chisla 'spring, water source' and noua 'new'. This suggests a settlement built around a water source, a comon enough beginning. Another source suggests the name came from the west and has some Hungarian influence, for in Hungarian the name is Kisjeno or 'small Jeno', this the name of one of the seven tribes who migrated east into Romania. The main support for this second theory is down to the sheer number of places named aftyer this tribe.

Balti is the plural of the Romanian balta meaning 'puddle'. This is understood as a reference to the city's location on a hill overlooking the wetlands.

Tiraspol is from two ancient Greek words: Tyras is the anient name for the Dneister River, and polis 'a city state'. The river names Tyras and Dneister mean 'rapid' and 'the close river' respectively.

Ribnita was founded in 1628 as Rybnytsia, a name describing its earliest purpose as a 'fishery'.

Cahul was renamed after the Battle of Kagul fought nearby in August 1770 and named after the Kagul River. Earlier names for the city include Frumoasa and Scheia, both of Romanian origin and meaning 'beautiful' and 'Bulgarian', respectively.

Orhei takes its name from the medieval city of Old Orhei some ten miles downriver. It is thought the name comes from the Hungarian orhely 'lookout post', a reminder of the 13th century Hungarian defences erected here.

Dubasari is a plural form of the archaic Romanian dubasar 'boatman'.

Straseni is from the Romanian strasnic, this meaning either 'scary' or 'terrible' and thought to refer to the fearsome forest which once covered this region.

Drochia takes its name from a bird known locally as the dropie and in English as the great bustard.

Calarasi translates as 'horsemen' and recalls a legend telling of how Stephen III of Moldavia fought the Ottomans and ordered his horsemen to line up and defend the city. They did so and, although every single one died in the process, gave the advantage enabling them to be victorious.

Floresti is derived from the Romanian word floare or 'flower'.

Cimislia has no known origins although the first written account comes from 1620 when Vladimir Nico explained this as meaning 'wealth'. There is no known word meaning 'wealth' but this may come from cimis, a name given to workers and bricklayers and used by Romanians and Tatar.

Slobozia comes from the Romanian slobozie meaning 'tax free place'.

Note the spellings of the places are English as the piece is written in English.

Not All At Sea

As a youngster I did not enjoy a very boring holiday week in Great Yarmouth. Nothing against Great Yarmouth, it was the torrential rain which threw a very real dampener on things. Yet for years one image stuck in my mind, that image is still there in the form of the Barking Smack public house. At the time I had no idea that 'Barking' was a place name and that a 'smack' was a vessel. Recently I visited the resort again and, reminded of the visit years ago, wondered why a vessel would ever be called a 'smack'. Not only is the smack examined here but many other vessels, not all to be found at sea.

Barge can also be used to mean 'bump into', and it came as something of a surprise to find this usage is derived from the vessel normally handled quite roughly. The name of the vessel came to English from Old French barge and ultimately from Latin barica and Greek baris meaning 'Egyptian boat' and this from Coptic bari or 'small boat'. Barque (sometimes 'bark') shares this origin.

Although trireme is a much better known term, there is also a bireme, the difference being the former has three rows of oars and the latter just two. The suffix in each case comes from the Latin remus meaning 'oar' and derived from same root as the word 'row' in Proto-Indo-European ere with the same meaning.

Brig is a shortened form of 'brigantine', itself referring to a vessel most often associated with trouble, particularly piracy. Hence it has the same root as 'brigand' and also 'brigade' in Italian briga 'to fight' and also seen Gaelic brigh and Welsh bri both meaning 'power'. Note the prison on board ship, known as the brig, is derived from the name of the vessel as, once again, it was associated with trouble.

The canoe may have been used for millennia but the word can be traced to the 15th and 16th century voyages of Christopher Columbus. The Spanish canoa is taken directly from the Arawakan (Haiti) word canaoua, used solely to refer to the boat.

Caravel came to English from Middle French caravelle, this from the Spanish caravo and Latin carabus referring to this small wicker boat covered with leather. Further back we find an apt description of the upturned boat in the Greek karabos meaning 'beetle, lobster'.

Catamarans were first seen when trading in what were then known as the East Indies. As most will know the modern catamaran uses two small hulls with the main body of the vessel atop that connecting these hulls. It came as no surprise to find this was the origin, where Tamil kattu-maram literally means 'tied wood' and from kattu 'binding' and maram 'wood, tree'.

Clipper is less than two centuries old and named for its speed, the verb 'clip' still used to speak of a fast pace.

Coracles are those ancient one-man craft typically seen in an artist's impression of early life in Britain. Our modern word came from the Saxons, itself related to Welsh corwgl, Gaelic curachan and Middle Irish curachan, the latter meaning simply 'boat'. These all likely share a root with Latin corium meaning 'hide, leather', cortex 'bark', Sanskrit krith 'hide', and Russian skora 'hide' and kora 'bark' in Proto-Indo-European ker 'to cut' and point to this framework being covered with skins

Dinghy is a Hindi word, where dingi simply means 'small boat'. It is doubtless related to Sanskrit drona-n 'wooden trough' and dru-s 'tree'.

Dreadnought is not so easy to see today but, when coined by the Royal Navy in the late 16th century, simply meant 'fearing nothing'.

Ferry, as a vessel, comes from its use as a verb which originally meant 'to carry, bring, or transport' (particularly over water) and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European per and shares an origin with 'port'.

Galleon shares an origin with galley and galliot the origin of all uncertain but is certainly of great antiquity as it is represented in most European languages.

Gondola is recorded since the 16th century but prior to that nothing is known of its origins.

Junk always seemed an odd word for a vessel but of course the modern 'rubbish' use has a quite different etymology. As the name of a vessel it has travelled quite a long way, coming to us from Portuguese junco 'Chinese sailing ship', from Malay jong 'large boat' and ultimately from Japanese djong.

Kayak came to English from Danish kajak and Greenland Eskimo qayaq meaning 'small boat of skins'. Note the kayak is, at least in its homeland, the male craft and the 'umiak' its counterpart really does mean 'woman's boat'.

Ketch is derived from the Middle English cacchen meaning 'to capture' and another vessel named for its use in warfare.

Launch may seem obvious but it is not named from the verb, albeit the spelling has been influenced by such. This comes from the Malay lancharan itself from lanchar meaning 'quick, agile'.

Liner is surprising recent, unknown prior to 1838 and simply means 'a vessel belonging to a shipping line'. Interestingly the use of 'line' here is also very recent, dating from around 1786 when it referred to lines of horse-drawn coaches.

Luggers are named for their lug sail, itself named for its supposed resemblance to an ear flap (lug hole!), which in turn shares an origin with the handle of a pitcher.

Pinnace comes from a root shared with the Latin pino 'pine tree' and also 'ship'.

Punt is an Old English word for a flat-bottomed boat taken from the Latin ponto and named for its apparent resemblance, and also effective use, to a bridge.

Sampan is a light Chinese boat name from the Chinese san pan, quite literally meaning 'three boards'.

Schooner is related to the archaic term scon, once used to mean 'to send over water'. Both are related to shun, itself meaning 'to turn aside', which also came to be used by the railways in the form of 'shunt'.

Skiff is a small boat with a name shared with 'ship', itself common to many European languages in a variety of forms and traceable back to Proto-Indo-European skei meaning 'cut, split' and referring to wooden ship construction.

Sloop came to English from Dutch sloep, this from Middle Dutch slupen 'to glide'. Interestingly this also shares a root in Proto-Indo-European sleubh, which has also given us 'sleeve' and that part of the garment which can the wearer has to 'slide' on.

Tugs are powerful vessels doing what their name suggests. The term 'tug' as a verb can be traced to Proto-Indo-European deuk meaning 'to lead'.

Yacht is quite well known as being from the Dutch, although the Germanic root is common to many of this group of languages and describes speed. The Proto-Germanic yago and earlier Proto-Indo-European yek both originally used to refer to 'the hunt'.

And of course the smack, the name that started it all. Not seen before the early 17th century, as this single-masted boat did not exist prior to that, came to English from the Dutch or German smak meaning 'sailing boat' and ultimately from smakken 'to fling or dash'. This can only be seen as the noise made by the sails as it catches the wind.

The Stories Behind the Names of the Most Famous Ships in History

Having felt as much as heard the blast from the horn of the Queen Mary when it berthed at Southampton while I was visiting one Saturday afternoon, the subject of name origins was soon raised.

Queen Mary is one of the most famous names in modern shipping. The original Queen Mary took the name of the consort of George V, Mary of Teck. Similarly the original Queen Elizabeth referred to the consort of George VI, while what became known as the QEII eventually referred to her daughter, the reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II.

However while undoubtedly the most famous ocean-going vessel of the twentieth century it also had the shortest life. RMS Titanic was named for it being the largest vessel ever to sail the high seas. Its dimensions certainly were 'titanic' in every respect: displacement of 52,310 tons, length 882 feet, nine decks, 3,547 passengers and crew were propelled at a cruising speed of 21 knots by the combined 46,000 horsepower engines.

As everyone knows this vast vessel sank on its maiden voyage with great loss of life. However 705 survivors made it to the New World thanks to the efforts of the captain and crew of RMS Carpathia. This vessel was named from the Carpathian Mountain range, itself traceable back to an early Proto-Indo-European word related to Albanian karpe 'rock' and simply describing 'the rocky mountains'.

Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory, was probably the best-named vessel ever. It is certainly the longest serving vessel ever for, even though it has been in dry dock in Portsmouth for many, many years, it is the oldest commissioned warship in the world. The honour of the oldest warship still afloat is claimed by USS Constitution, clearly named to mark the signing of the American constitution which it defended in the War of 1812 against the British.

Another famous ship is HMS Temeraire, a vessel which would probably have been forgotten were it not for the 1838 painting by J. M. W. Turner, The Fighting Temeraire which showed her being tugged home to be broken up. This very un-English name is due to the British custom of naming vessels after old prizes, the original being a French ship taken at the Battle of Lagos in 1759. The name is derived from the Latin temerarius and means 'casual, rash, accidental', what seems to us a very odd name for a vessel.

HMS Hood has been used for several ships since the mid-nineteenth century, all named after the Hood family which produced generations of mariners. The most famous is the battlecruiser launched in 1918 and in service until 1941. This particular ship was named after the eighteenth century Admiral Samuel Hood, who saw action in the Armerican Independence and French Revolutionary Wars and was also a mentor of Admiral Lord Nelson.

The Hood was sunk in 1941 by the Bismarck. Launched in 1939, the German battleship Bismarck was named after the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and, at over fifty thousand tons, the then largest warship ever commissioned. The other famous German vessel of World War II was the Admiral Graf Spee, named after the World War I Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee who was killed, along with two of his sons, in the Battle of the Falkland Islands in December 1914.

It may only be a part of Greek mythology, but the Argo is certainly one of the most famous in ancient history. It is named after Argus, the one hundred-eyed monster who built it. Another potentially fictitious name is generally known as Noah's Ark, although nowhere in the Bible is it referred as such. The word 'Ark', if it is of Ancient Hebrew derviation, does not refer to a boat or ship, it simply means 'box'.

One of the lesser known vessels, yet one which was certainly played a pivotal in English history, is the so-called White Ship. On November 25th 1170, off the Normandy Coast near Barfleur, the most impressive ship of its day sank with just a single survivor, a butcher from Rouen. The drunken revelry of the passengers and even the crew resulted in the deaths of many of the youth of the English court, including the only legitimate son of King Henry I, William the Aethling. This resulted in a dispute on the subject of succession following Henry's death, a war between Matilda, the king's daughter whom he had attempted to guarantee would succeed him, and Stephen of Blois who did eventually accede to the throne. It was written at the time how "No ship ever brought such misery to England". Clearly the vessel was painted white in order to stand out wherever it was afloat.

Cunard's RMS Lusitania famously sank off Ireland in May 1915 having been torpedoed by a German U-Boat who claimed it was bringing munitions from the US to Britain. The name of Lusitania is derived from the Roman province on the Iberian peninsula, roughly corresponding to all of Portugal with the addition of the Spanish lands as far as the Douro. The name referred to a tribe, the Lusitani, who lived here and who may have taken their name from Lus Tanus 'the tribe of Lusus'.

In 1947 Norway's Thor Heyerdahl built a reed boat and attempted to show the ancients could have travelled across the Pacific Ocean from South American to the islands of Polynesia. The vessel he named Kon-Tiki an earlier name for the Inca sun god Viracocha. The creator god was also known as Apu Qun Tiqsi, Wiraqutra, and Con-Tici depending upon the period involved.

The first man to complete a circumnavigation of the globe was Sir Francis Drake. He left in 1577 aboard the Pelican, however by the time he returned in 1580 Drake had renamed his vessel the Golden Hind. Drake had good reason for the name change, it was to commemorate the role played by Sir Christopher Hatton as patron of his journey, and whose crest featured a female deer, known in heraldry as a 'golden hind'.

A century earlier Christopher Columbus set sail for the west to prove it was possible to reach the East Indies by what he considered would be the shorter route. What he found was the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas. He had three vessels under his command, led by the Santa Maria, originally named La Gallega as it was built in the region of Galicia, with two smaller vessels alongside, the Pinta 'the painted' and Santa Clara, more often referred to by its nickname of Nina 'the girl' and based on the name of her owner Juan Nino of Moguer.

Another famous crossing of the Atlantic took place in 1620, when the English Separatists, better known as Pilgrims, left Plymouth and sailed for the New World. Just where the name Mayflower came from is uncertain, although it certainly spawned a number of later vessels named such.

An infamous name is that of HMS Bounty, originally commission as His Majesty's Armed Vessel the Bounty, and named for its first botanical mission. The principal target was the breadfruit plants of Tahiti and transport them to the West Indies, hoping they would flourish and become a cheap and bountiful source of food for the slaves.

Also famous for its voyages around the eastern Pacific is HMS Beagle, which took one Charles Darwin on a voyage which led to the eventual publication of On the Origin of Species. There is nothing recorded as to why the name of the dog was chosen, however we do know the origin of the name of the hound, it comes from the French beegueule meaning 'one who whines insistently'.

Finally the famous research vessel of Jacques Cousteau, Calypso was named after the figure from Greek mythology. She is best remembered for her role in Homer's Odyssey in which she held the eponymous her captive. Calypso is generally held to be the daughter of the Titan Atlas.

It seems any name chosen was never meant to last. Whatever the reasons behind the selection when the vessel was launched or renamed soon become insignificant which is surely the lesson to be learned here. Perhaps a little more thought into new and significant names and less examples of old names being reworked and passed off as 'traditional'.

I would welcome any suggestions for themes or subjects, or even specific words to examine the origins, meanings and etymologies. I’d be delighted to hear from you.