trout English · revision 39633

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited, borrowing|attested=Old English, in Wright and Wülcker's vocabularies|origins=la-lat tructa}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /tɹaʊt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It continues [[inh|enm|troute]], [[m|enm|trute]],^(MWU 2024)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Stratmann 1891) partly [[inh|ang|truht]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(Bosworth-Toller)^(Holthausen 1934) and partly [[bor|fro|truite]], [[m|fro|troite]] (from about 1170).^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) Both come from [[la-lat|tructa]], also [[m|la-lat|tructus]] and [[m|la-lat|trutta]], recorded from the 4th century,^(OED 2026)^(Partridge 1966)^(Weekley 1921) which is probably [[der|grc|τρώκτης|tr=trṓktēs|t=gnawer; a sea fish with sharp teeth]],^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Skeat 1911)^(MWU 2024) from [[m|grc|τρώγω|tr=trṓgō|t=to gnaw]].^(OED 2026)^(AHD 2024)^(Klein 1966) Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary give the Greek step as only a possibility.^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024) Klein relates the Greek verb to [[m|grc|τράγος|tr=trágos|t=he-goat]], literally a "gnawer";^(Klein 1966) Etymonline traces it to [[ine-pro|*terh₁-|t=to rub, turn]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The freshwater fish of the salmon family: Old English, in a glossary printed by Wright and Wülcker, where ''truht'' glosses Latin ''tructa''.^(OED 2026)^(Bosworth-Toller) Barnhart dates the Old English word to about 1050 and the Middle English form ''trute'' to before 1325, in the ''Cursor Mundi''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The name spread to other fishes like the trout (1604, in a translation of Acosta's natural history of the Indies), and with a qualifying word to many species, as in ''sea trout'' and ''lake trout'' (1661).^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002) Johnson (1755) described it as a delicate spotted fish of brooks and quick streams, and added a second sense, "a familiar phrase for an honest, or perhaps for a silly fellow".^(Johnson 1755) In 17th-century colloquial use ''true'' or ''trusty trout'' was a confidential friend or servant: the OED dates it from c. 1661 to 1688,^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) and Green's Dictionary of Slang has the word from 1607, in Middleton.^(GDoS) From 1668 ''trout'' also meant a woman, later especially an elderly, bad-tempered one;^(OED 2026)^(GDoS) the Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins dates the familiar ''old trout'' from the late 19th century.^(Cresswell 2021) In the 18th century, according to Green's dictionary, it was also a cant word for a Roman Catholic priest.^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Old English – the fish.^(OED 2026)^(Bosworth-Toller)

+ * before 1325 – Middle English ''trute''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1602 – collective use, as in ''fishing for trout''.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1604 – other fishes resembling the trout.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1607 – (slang) a trusted friend, ''trusty trout''.^(GDoS)

+ * 1668 – (colloquial) a woman.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1766 – (cant) a Roman Catholic priest.^(GDoS)

+ * late 19th century – ''old trout'', an elderly woman.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Any of several [[game fish]] of the [[salmon]] family, mostly of cool fresh water, especially the brown trout and the rainbow trout; their flesh as food.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+ # Any of various similar or related fishes, such as the [[sea trout]].^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # (British, informal, derogatory) A woman, especially an old and irritable one, usually ''old trout''.^(OED 2026)^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To fish for trout.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[troutless]]

+ * [[troutlike]]

+ * [[trouty]]

+ * [[trout-perch]]

+ * [[cutthroat trout]]

+ * [[silver trout]]

+ * [[lake trout]]

+ * [[brook trout]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[salmon]]

+ * [[char]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The plural is usually ''trout'', sometimes ''trouts''.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002) In Scotland and west Yorkshire the word was also pronounced ''troot'', and in Ireland the height a trout can leap was a standard of comparison for height.^(Wright 1898) In Lincolnshire ''to play trout'' meant to play truant.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}