Hello,
As a Cornish girl, living in Cornwall, and having been a
'fishwife' in my youth, I can tell you that spider crabs are known as
'gabbricks' or 'gavricks' in Mevagissey. I'm sure the spelling varies (I am, of
course, spelling it with a Cornish accent). Small, undersized mackerel were
always referred to as 'joeys'. My gran always called scallops 'queens'. Dog
fish, when sold at the fish and chip shop, was always known as rock
salmon.
As Cornish fisherfolk are so superstitious rabbits and
rats were never allowed to be mentioned by name, especially when on-board a
boat; they were always referred to as 'bush conger' and 'long
tails'.
The following is from Fred Ivey's publication,
Memories of a Long and Happy Life, November 1996
Aawk ................... Hake
Baggly-ow ..............Dried codfish
Breal.............. Mackerel
Brit.............. A tiny fish, smaller than a
sprat
Buckhorn ..............Dried salt whiting
Chad................. A young bream
Cuddle.............A cuttlefish
Ellack...........A kind
of gurnard
Gaver............ The crayfish
Garrick ............Garfish
Gweggan.........Small fish
Lampits................Limpets
Mallygolder................A large
jellyfish
Margy-soup................Dog-fish soup with parsley
etc
Padelenica................A great cuttlefish
Pea................The
hard roe in fishes
Scoggan...................A mackerel head
boiled
Scrowl-pelchur...................Pilchard cooked over an open
fire
Shot.................. A species of
trout
Tow-rag................Dried cod fish (or, as I know it, Toe
rag)
Treag.Trig................Small shellfish such as limpets,
periwinkles,etc. 'Trig' in Cornish is 'Ebbing of the sea.'
Truff................Trout
Tub................A species of Gurnard
Hope this might be of some use.
Best wishes,
Fiona Thompson
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, March 27, 2009 4:23
PM
Subject: [EPNL] Fish names
|
Dear names scholars,
I realise many of you will be busy in Cornwall at the moment, but
when you get back, I would be very grateful if anyone were able
to post any references they might have to sources of information
on vernacular names for fish, e.g. an alternative name
for a "codling" used on the Yorkshire coast, or what they call a
"trout" in Hampshire.
Such information is seemingly harder to find than e.g. plant names,
bird names, etc.
all best,
Jonathan Roper |
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