fiscere

Forms

fisċere m (strong ja-stem; genitive singular fisċeres, nominative plural fisċeras)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *fiskārijaz (“fisherman”), made from *fiskaz (“fish”) with the agent suffix *-ārijaz.^[1] Within Old English it is fisċ with -ere.^[1][2] The same formation is found in Old Norse fiskari, Old Frisian fisker, Old Saxon fiskari and Old High German fiskāri.^[2][3][4]

Ringe and Taylor trace the suffix to Proto-West Germanic *-ārī, taken from Latin -ārius: Latin words containing it were taken over together with their bases, and the suffix was then extracted from such pairs and became productive.^[5] Its long vowel was fronted and the ending reduced to ⟨-ere⟩.^[6] Durkin also thinks the suffix probably Latin, and if so a very early borrowing.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in the account of the northern voyage in the Orosius, in the manuscript of the first half of the tenth century: the land to the north was waste all the way “butan fiscerum & fugelerum & huntum, & þæt wæron eall Finnas” (“except for fishermen and fowlers and hunters, and they were all Finns”).^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

The word renders Latin “piscator”, above all of Peter and Andrew in the gospels; in the Colloquy the fisherman says Ic eom fiscere.^[10][2] In the Orosius a fisherman ferries Xerxes over the river.^[11] In Ælfric's Glossary the word also names a bird, the kingfisher.^[10][12]

The word lived on as Middle English fischer, now English fisher; because fisher came to be used of certain animals, fisherman may have arisen beside it.^[1][13]

Timeline

• s. x¹ – fiscerum & fugelerum & huntum in the account of the northern voyage in the Orosius.^[8][9]
• s. x³/⁴ – weron forðon fisceras in the Lindisfarne gloss to Mark.^[14][9]
• s. x ex. – in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I.^[15][9]
• s. x/xi – in the Old English Martyrology.^[16][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. a fisher, fisherman.^[10][12][2]
2. (glosses) the kingfisher.^[10][12]

Descendants

• Middle English fischer (→ English fisher)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. fiscere
3. ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. fisker
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. fiskāri
5. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 138
6. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 150
7. ^ Durkin, Philip (2014), Borrowed Words: A History of Loanwords in English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 114
8. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 249
9. ^ a b c d e Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
10. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 289
11. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 221
12. ^ a b c Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 120
13. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 291
15. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 407
16. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 281