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ling

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Pronunciation

ling1 fish

Etymology

The fish is inherited from Middle English lenge, later ling.[2][3][4] The Oxford dictionaries think it probably of Dutch or Low German origin,[5][6][7][8] comparing earlier Dutch lenghe and linghe, now leng,[6][5] while the OED treats it as a Germanic word shared with Dutch, German Leng, Old Norse langa and Swedish långa.[2][3][9] All are probably from the root of long, the fish being named for its length;[4][10][9][3] the adjective is Old English lang (“long”),[10][3] from Proto-Germanic *langaz.[3] According to the OED, French lingue comes from the English word.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A long, slender cod-like fish of northern European seas: 1228 as lenge, in Barnhart's dating, and ling from 1340;[3] the OED's first quotation is from Havelok (about 1300).[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The ling was eaten above all salted or dried.[2][9] From the mid-19th century the name was given in North America, New Zealand and elsewhere to other fishes, such as the burbot and the cultus cod.[2][8] In Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well (1602) ling is slang for a woman seen as a sexual object, a play on the fish.[11]

Timeline

  • 1228 – lenge, the fish.[3]
  • c. 1300 – in Havelok.[2][4]
  • 1340 – the form ling.[3]
  • 1602 – slang, a woman, in Shakespeare.[11]
  • c. 1850 – applied to other fishes in America.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A long, slender food fish (Molva molva) of the cod family, found in the seas of northern Europe and often salted or dried.[8][9][2]
  2. Any of several related or similar fishes, such as the burbot.[8][9][2]

Word family

  • lingcod

ling2 heather

Etymology

The heather is inherited from Middle English lyng, also linge,[12][9][13] borrowed from Old Norse lyng (“heather”),[2][12][5][6][14] whence also Danish lyng and ljung.[2][10] The OED compares lingon (“cowberry”);[2] Hoad and the Shorter Oxford call the Norse word of unknown origin.[6][5][7] Klein relates it to slyngva (“to throw, sling”) and sling,[10] and Partridge suggested a link with Old English lōh (“strap, thong”), with a basic idea "to bend".[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

Heather: in 1287, as lynge in a Latin record of the gathering of heather, gorse and leaves in an abbot's wood;[12] the OED's first quotation is from the Durham account rolls (about 1357).[2][12] Merriam-Webster dates the word to the 15th century.[9]

Semantic evolution

The word was used in particular of the common heather, Calluna vulgaris, and formerly also of heathland.[2][5] Johnson (1755) noted that this sense was kept "in the north".[16] In dialect it was used from Scotland and Ireland as far south as Shropshire and East Anglia;[17] Wright reports that in the Northumberland moorlands it meant the cross-leaved and bell heathers rather than the common heather.[17] The meadow pipit was called the ling-bird.[5]

Timeline

  • 1287 – lynge, heather, in a Latin record.[12]
  • c. 1357 – in the Durham account rolls.[2]
  • 1755 – Johnson notes the word as northern.[16]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Heather, especially the common heather (Calluna vulgaris).[8][9][2]
  2. A growth of heather or other heaths.[9]
  • long
  • linger
  • sling

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  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 Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  12. ^ 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)
  13. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  15. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  16. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  17. ^ 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)