English

garfish

Garfish comes from Middle English garfysche.

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

A compound of gor ‘spear’ + fisch ‘fish’

Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰey- ‘to drive, move, fling’

Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰoysós ‘throwing spear’

Proto-Germanic *gaizaz ‘spear, pike, javelin’

Proto-West Germanic *gaiʀ ‘spear’

Old English gār ‘spear, arrow, dart’

Middle English gor ‘spear’

Proto-Indo-European *peyḱ- ‘to paint, mark’

Proto-Indo-European *pisk-ó-s ‘fish’

Proto-Germanic *fiskaz ‘fish’

Proto-West Germanic *fisk ‘fish’

Old English fisċ ‘fish’

Middle English fisch ‘fish’

Every English word from Middle English garfysche

noun Any fish of the needlefish family Belonidae, with a long narrow body and needle-shaped jaws, especially the European species Belone belone.

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