A compound of hag + fish
Proto-West Germanic *hagatussjā ‘witch’
Old English hægtesse ‘harpy, witch’
Middle English hagge ‘demon, old woman’
English hag
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
Today it means
noun Any of the primitive eellike fish, of the family Myxinidae, having a sucking mouth with rasping teeth, and sometimes used as food or for eelskin leather.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / hagfish
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