English

fish tape

From fish (“to get hold of an object”) + tape.

A compound of fish ‘to get hold of an object’ + tape

Proto-Indo-European *piskós

Proto-Germanic *fiskaz

Proto-West Germanic *fisk

Old English fisċ

Middle English fisch ‘an animal that inhabits the water or the meat…’

English fish

Old English tæppa ‘ribbon, tape’

Middle English tape

English tape

Today it means

noun A long strip of stiff metal, frequently kept on a spool, used to guide or draw wires and cables through a building.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / fish tape