English
fishplate
From fish + plate.
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-Indo-European *pleth₂- ‘flat’
…
Vulgar Latin *plattus ‘flat’
Medieval Latin plata
Old French plate ‘a flat metal disk’
Middle English plate
English plate
Today it means
noun A metal bar that is bolted to the ends of two rails to join them together in a track.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / fishplate