English
mackerel
Mackerel comes from Old French maquerel ‘mackerel (fish)’.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400maquerel‘mackerel (fish)’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mackerell
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1597mackerel
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400maquerel‘mackerel (fish)’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mackerell
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1597mackerel
Earliest quotation: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]: “[…] you may buy land now as cheap as…”
Linked words
through Proto-Italic *smaklom
through Latin macula ‘stain, spot’
Today it means
noun Certain smaller edible fish, principally true mackerel and Spanish mackerel in family Scombridae, often speckled,
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old French maquerel / mackerel