gurnard

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English gurnard, also gornard and gournard,^[2] borrowed from Old French gornart,^{[3][4][5][6][2]} also gournart,^[7][1] recorded in the 13th century,^[7] and Anglo-Latin had gurnardus.^[5] The French noun is formed with the suffix -ard,^[4][8][9] and with a metathesis, from gronir (“to grunt”), a by-form of grondir,^[7][6][4][5] from Latin grunniō (“to grunt”), also grundiō,^[4][5][10] the source of grunt.^[4][6] Merriam-Webster Unabridged calls the formation irregular, from Middle French grogner,^[8] and the Middle English Dictionary starts from Old French groignart.^[2] Most dictionaries explain the name by the grunting sound the fish makes when it is caught.^{[7][3][4][6][9][11]} Weekley compares Dutch knorhaan, from knorren (“to grumble”),^[11] and Wiktionary compares French grondin (“gurnard”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The fish of the genus Trigla: 1314, in the 1989 edition of the OED;^[12] Etymonline says the early 14th century.^[7] The Middle English Dictionary has the Latinised gurnardi in a household roll of 1290, and gurnard in Durham accounts of 1344.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The fish was eaten in the Middle Ages: the Forme of Cury has a recipe with the blood and paunches of gurnardes.^[2] The Shakespearean soused gurnet was a term of abuse: "If I be not ashamed of my soldiers, I am a sous'd gurnet".^[5][12] The name later extended, with qualifying words, to other fishes, such as the yellow gurnard or dragonet and the flying gurnard.^[12][8]

Timeline

• 1314 – the fish.^[12]
• 1596 – soused gurnet, a term of abuse.^[12]
• 1704 – flying gurnard, a flying fish.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. Any of various sea fish of the family Triglidae, with a large spiny armoured head and finger-like rays on the pectoral fins, used as feelers and for crawling on the sea bottom.^[13][8][5]
2. A dragonet, also called the yellow gurnard.^[8][12]

Word family

• flying gurnard

Related words

• grunt
• grunion
• gurnet
• -ard

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins