ry small fish we say
minnow. Alewife in old English was applied to the women, usually very
stout dames, who kept alehouses. The corpulency of the fish to which the
same term is given explains its derivation.

The pike is so named from the sharp, pointed snout and long, slim body,
bringing to mind the old-time weapon of that name; while pickerel means
doubly a little pike, the _er_ and _el_ (as in cock and cockerel) both
being diminutives. Smelt was formerly applied to any small fish and comes,
perhaps, from the Anglo-Saxon _smeolt_, which meant smooth--the smoothness
and slipperiness of the fish suggesting the name.

Salmon comes directly from the Latin _salmo_, a salmon, which literally
meant the leaper, from _salire_--to leap. Sturgeon, from the Saxon was
_stiriga_, literally a stirrer, from the habit of the fish of stirring up
the mud at the bottom of the water. Dace, through its mediaeval forms
_darce_ and _dars_, is from the same root as our word dart, given on
account of the swiftness of the fish.

Anchovy is interesting as perhaps from the Basque word _antzua_, meaning
dry; hence the dried fish; and mullet is from the Latin _mullus_. Herring
is well worth following back to its origin. We know that the most marked
habit of fishes of this type is their herding together in great schools or
masses or armies. In the very high German _heri_ meant an army or host;
hence our word harry and, with a suffix, herring.

_Hake_ in Norwegian means hook, and the term hake or hook-fish was given
because of the hooked character of the under-jaw. Mackerel comes from
_macarellus_ and originally the Latin _macula_--spotted, from the dark
spots on the body. Roach and ray both come from the Latin _raria_, applied
then as in the latter case now to bottom-living sharks.

Flounder comes from the verb, which in turn is derived from flounce, a
word which is lost in antiquity. Tarpon (and the form _tarpum_) may be an
Indian word; while there is no doubt as to grouper coming from _garrupa_,
a native Mexican name. Chubb (a form of cub) meant a chunky mass or lump,
referring to the body of the fish. Shad is lost in _sceadda_, Anglo-Saxon
for the same fish.

Lamprey and halibut both have histories, which, at first glance, we would
never suspect, although the forms have changed but little. The former have
a habit of fastening themselves for hours to stones and rocks, by means of
their strong, sucking mouths. So the Latin form of the word _la