{"id":4140,"date":"2025-10-04T15:41:33","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T15:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?p=4140"},"modified":"2025-10-04T19:36:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T19:36:59","slug":"adventures-in-etymology-fishing-for-fish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?p=4140","title":{"rendered":"Adventures in Etymology &#8211; Fishing for Fish"},"content":{"rendered":"<div itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/AudioObject\"><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Adventures in Etymology &amp;#8211; Fishing for Fish\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2025-10-04T15:41:33+00:00\" \/><meta itemprop=\"encodingFormat\" content=\"audio\/mpeg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT2M29S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"In this Adventure in Etymology we fish for the origins of the word fish.\n\n\n\nFish [f\u026a\u0283] can refer to:\n\n A typically cold-blooded vertebrate animal that lives in water, moving with the help of fins and breathing with gills.\n Any animal (or any vertebra...\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/fish.mp3\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2.7\" \/><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_6851\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-4140-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/fish.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/fish.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/fish.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/fish.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?powerpress_pinw=4140-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/fish.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"fish.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p>In this Adventure in Etymology we fish for the origins of the word <strong>fish<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/buzmurdockgeotag\/34600723322\/in\/photolist-UHxKzd-2a13y4k-Kb19o3-dMXweV-CAUvgA-UUkYDG-J1EQqS-nrXSiz-qL2Ahk-arsNjB-5sRCBo-btYUco-pYvt3e-9UNsJ3-7ocuDt-9j55nQ-TZzhX5-8q2vAx-bJJkKn-A7Lg6d-2pachY-67JauQ-cgN4Co-79XfyJ-cJ5YUL-dKpj1w-ULe4fc-68LtVN-6aT2gN-3K5FC5-ick4M2-7JLZWc-bkMUpR-cFqB39-4mFREr-5gUU2N-z4Tnn-b9CiSX-cLDtHE-9UKB7i-5nTRem-qRkzC3-6twkMH-5Qm9yT-6m4qQq-7WTNhT-oq2G7x-a3fbF5-3LqHkS-fnJNjR\" title=\"#fish\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/4195\/34600723322_083acd7b2c_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" alt=\"#fish\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>Fish<\/strong> [f\u026a\u0283] can refer to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A typically cold-blooded vertebrate animal that lives in water, moving with the help of fins and breathing with gills.<\/li>\n<li>Any animal (or any vertebrate) that lives exclusively in water.<\/li>\n<li>As a verb it can mean: To hunt fish or other aquatic animals in a body of water, or to collect coral or pearls from the bottom of the sea.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Other meanings are available, and some would say there&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nosuchthingasafish.com\/\">no such thing as a fish<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>It comes from Middle English <em>fisch<\/em> [fi\u0283] (fish, and other animals that live in water), from Old English <em>fis\u010b \/ fix \/ \u16a0\u16c1\u16cb\u16b3<\/em> [fi\u0283 \/ fisk] (fish), from Proto-West Germanic <em>*fisk<\/em>, from Proto-Germanic <em>*fiskaz<\/em> [\u02c8\u0278is.k\u0251z] (fish), from Proto-Indo-European <em>*peysk-<\/em> (fish) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/fish#English\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Words from the same PIE root include <strong>vis<\/strong> (fish) in Dutch, <strong>fisk<\/strong> (fish, Pisces) in Swedish, <strong>peixe<\/strong> (fish) in Portuguese, <strong>pez<\/strong> (fish, idiot) in Spanish,  <strong>p\u00eacher<\/strong> (to fish) in French, <strong>pysgodyn<\/strong> (fish) in Welsh, <strong>iasc<\/strong> (fish) in Irish, and <strong>piscine<\/strong> (fishy, pertaining to fish) and <strong>piscatorial<\/strong> (pertaining to fish, fishing or fishermen) in English [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European\/p%C3%A9ysks#Proto-Indo-European:_fish\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>The Proto-Indo-European <em>*peysk-<\/em> (fish) only has descendents in the Germanic, Romance and Celtic languages. Another PIE root for fish is <em>*d\u02b0\u01f5\u02b0\u00faHs<\/em>, which became <strong>\u0571\u0578\u0582\u056f<\/strong> (juk &#8211; fish, calf muscle) in Armenian, <strong>zivs<\/strong> (fish) in Latvian, <strong>\u017euvis<\/strong> (fish) in Lithuanian, and <strong>\u03b9\u03c7\u03b8\u03cd\u03c2<\/strong> (ichth\u00fds &#8211; fish) in Greek <em>&#8211; (archaic) appears mainly in compounds such as <strong>\u03c7\u03b8\u03c5\u03bf\u03c0\u03ce\u03bb\u03b7\u03c2<\/strong> (ichthyop\u00f3lis &#8211; fishmonger)<\/em> [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European\/d%CA%B0%C7%B5%CA%B0%C3%BAHs\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/60345837@N00\/123455399\/in\/photolist-bUJZn-cxfCg7-2kFkPJM-31XdVU-2qnZCi6-9FY2vK-GJGQRe-2jkX6MN-qJ7S9C-2jkSxjs-4eWL4-smsDDj-r63FhU-7Uxwsy-MB7M3u-pXzRRZ-s3hPdx-4DGmxQ-UFm635-rnvNad-2iTXGui-qrGD4h-eE4Co4-qqBBnw-rpBHfb-sjjXJj-qtXyXi-cucJno-qKNcXh-s3hNvk-dGkGhk-7igVg-qqByYU-4pHou6-2jktYHb-aghs8g-dGr8nh-4pMr6y-aght4z-p2WqNK-aghsuM-qMWZhY-2jmavGA-fZpfZ-qvfNGd-4CQGCD-qrFZph-agkdpq-GwaAUm-qo74wF\" title=\"ichthyosaur\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/39\/123455399_9846448597_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"250\" alt=\"ichthyosaur\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Some fish-related words in English also come from the same roots, via Ancient Greek <em>\u1f30\u03c7\u03b8\u03cd\u03c2<\/em> [ix\u02c8\u03b8is] (ikhth\u00fas, fish, stupid person). These include: <strong>ichthyology<\/strong> (fish science), <strong>ichthyosaur<\/strong> (any fishlike marine reptiles of the extinct order <em>Ichthyosauria<\/em>), <strong>ichthyolatry<\/strong> (the worship of fish or fish-shaped idols), and <strong>ichthyophobia<\/strong> (fear of fish) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/ichthyo-#English\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/uk\/cgi-bin\/webscr?cmd=_flow&amp;SESSION=aLjPfXL-vP_1gQ_U23Iz8_hSWLlhzLHPMFZrt32dIEfG8htoNFLYaPoWkv8&amp;dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f8e263663d3faee8def8934b92a630e40b7fef61ab7e9fe63\">PayPal<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/omniglot\">Patreon<\/a>, or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/donations.htm\">contribute to Omniglot in other ways<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with <a href=\"https:\/\/blubrry.com\/services\/podcast-hosting\/?code=omniglot\">Blubrry Podcast Hosting<\/a>, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code <strong>omniglot<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.japanesepod101.com\/member\/go.php?r=759259&amp;i=b0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/banners\/banner_japanesepod.jpg\" alt=\"The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com\" width=\"630\" height=\"83\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/\">Omniglot Blog<\/a>, and I explore etymological connections between Celtic languages on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/\">Celtiadur<\/a> blog.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- Blog horizontal --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\n     style=\"display:block\"\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     data-ad-slot=\"1685480124\"\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/AudioObject\"><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Adventures in Etymology &amp;#8211; Fishing for Fish\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2025-10-04T15:41:33+00:00\" \/><meta itemprop=\"encodingFormat\" content=\"audio\/mpeg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT2M29S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"In this Adventure in Etymology we fish for the origins of the word fish.\n\n\n\nFish [f\u026a\u0283] can refer to:\n\n A typically cold-blooded vertebrate animal that lives in water, moving with the help of fins and breathing with gills.\n Any animal (or any vertebra...\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/fish.mp3\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2.7\" \/><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_6852\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-4140-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/fish.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/fish.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/fish.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/fish.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?powerpress_pinw=4140-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/fish.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"fish.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p>In this Adventure in Etymology we fish for the origins of the word fish. Fish [f\u026a\u0283] can refer to: A typically cold-blooded vertebrate animal that lives in water, moving with the help of fins and breathing with gills. Any animal (or any vertebrate) that lives exclusively in water. As a verb it can mean: To [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,97,40,47,20,56,23,24,61,6,4,114,156,58,11,55,1,27,57,59,119,28,30,7],"tags":[90,331,332,9,15,88,333,334,8,103],"class_list":["post-4140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures-in-etymology","category-ancient-greek-","category-armenian","category-dutch","category-english","category-etymology","category-french","category-german","category-greek-","category-irish","category-language","category-latvian-latviesu-valoda","category-lithuanian-lietuviu-kalba","category-middle-english","category-music","category-old-english-aenglisc","category-podcast","category-portuguese","category-proto-germanic","category-proto-indo-european","category-proto-west-germanic","category-spanish","category-swedish","category-welsh","tag-etymology","tag-fish","tag-ichthyology","tag-language","tag-music","tag-omniglot","tag-piscatorial","tag-pisces","tag-podcast","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4140"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4147,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4140\/revisions\/4147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}