haddock

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English haddok, also hadoke, haudok and heidok,^[2] recorded as a surname from 1286.^[3][4] Its origin is uncertain.^{[5][6][7][4][8]} The Shorter Oxford, Hoad and the Oxford Dictionary of English take it as borrowed from Old French hadoc, the Anglo-Norman form, a variant of hadot (plural hadoz, haddos), itself of unknown origin.^[9][10][11] The OED notes that the Old French word, used for the same fish about 1250, is very rare and is probably from English in the opinion of etymologists in France, its form recalling Scots forms of the word;^[5] Barnhart, Etymonline and Klein also take the French word as a loan from English, and Barnhart adds that the FEW cites it from Old Picard in 1285.^[5][4][7][8] The OED takes the ending to be the diminutive suffix -ock, as in bullock, dunnock and hillock.^[5][7] Anglo-Latin had Medieval Latin haddocus in the 13th century,^[10] and English records of 1252 and 1256 use Latin plurals of the word.^[2] Scottish Gaelic adag is from English.^[5][8][7] Weekley conjectured that hadot meant a fish salted in a special way rather than a species, and that it came from Old French adouber (“to prepare”).^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The fish: 1307–8, in the account rolls of Durham, where 100 haddocks from Sunderland cost 4 shillings 7 pence.^[5][2][4] Merriam-Webster dates the word to the 14th century,^[13] and Etymonline to the late 13th century.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The name has always meant the North Atlantic fish allied to the cod; from 1844 it was also applied, often with a qualifying word, to related fishes, such as the Jerusalem haddock and the golden haddock, the John Dory.^[5][9] John Heywood's proverbs of 1546 have to bring haddock to paddock, to spend or lose everything, a phrase recorded until 1577.^[5][14] Johnson (1755) called it a small sea fish of the cod kind and gave French hadot as its source.^[15] In thieves' cant from 1812 a haddock was a purse, and in the United States from 1865 money;^[14] Green's Dictionary of Slang mentions the old belief that the dark marks on the fish's shoulders were left by St Peter's finger and thumb when he took the tribute money from its mouth.^[14] Scots and south-western dialects had the forms haddick and haddik.^[16]

Timeline

• 1307 – the North Atlantic food fish.^[5][4][2]
• 1546 – to bring haddock to paddock, to come to ruin (obsolete by 1577).^[5][14]
• 1812 – slang, a purse.^[14]
• 1844 – any of various related fishes.^[5]
• 1865 – US slang, money.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A North Atlantic food fish (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) of the cod family, smaller than the common cod, with a black lateral line and a dark spot behind the gills.^[13][6][5]
2. The flesh of this fish as food: smoked haddock with poached eggs.^[9][13]
3. Any of various related fishes, usually with a qualifying word.^[5][9]
4. to bring haddock to paddock (obsolete, 1546–1577): to spend or lose everything.^[5][14]

Related words

• finnan haddie

Usage notes

A second haddock, in Ireland and Yorkshire, was a shock of corn of six to twelve sheaves, the same word as hattock.^[16]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
14. ^ a b c d e f g Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)