English
fishfolk
Compound of fish + folk.
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
Proto-Germanic *fulką ‘troop, army’
Proto-West Germanic *folk ‘military, army, troop’
Old English folc ‘the people, especially the common people’
Middle English folk ‘people, folk’
English folk
Today it means
noun Fish collectively, especially when treated anthropomorphically as a culture.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / fishfolk