46 INTRODUCTION 



gives Fishing — " to catch, or try to catch fish " — wide enough 

 for all our purpose and for most of our performances ! In 

 their definitions of Angling, Angle, etc., the majority of diction- 

 aries disagree, but unite in deriving Angle from the Aryan 

 root, ANK=to bend, and establishing the fishing term as the 

 cousin of the awkward angles of Euclid and of our youth. 

 The N.E.D. in its definitions of ' Angle ' (sb.), of ' Angle ' (vb.), 

 of ' Angler,' or of ' AngHng,' does not even agree with itself. 

 Thus we find : 



(A) " Angle (sb.), a fish hook : often in later use extended to the 



line, or tackle, to which it is fastened, and the Rod to 

 which this is attached. See Book of St. Alban's (title 

 of ed. 2), Treaty se perteynynge to Hawkynge, Huntynge, 

 and Fysshynge with an Angle." 



(B) " Angle (vb.), to use an angle : to fish with a hook and bait." 



(C) " Angler, one who fishes with a hook and line." 



(D) " Angling, the action or art of fishing with a rod." * 



If A, B, C, which all differ, are accurate, D can hardly be so. 

 Further from A, B, C, we can deduce no correct definition of D. 



Under D the N.E.D. imports as a necessary component part 

 of angHng the presence of a rod, but I venture to think on 

 insufficient grounds. In the first quotation cited in support, 

 " Fysshynge, callyd Anglynge with a rodde," the word " rodde," 

 if D hold good, must be redundant or unnecessary. " Rodde " 

 I hold to be an added word of limitation, or description, as in 

 " Fysshynge with an Angle." 



But since the dictionaries do hardly help — to some, indeed, 

 they smack of " the heinous crime of word-splitting " — and 

 since the importance (apart from etymological reasons) of 

 possessing an accurate and adequate definition presses, let us 

 prostrate ourselves before another oracle, the Law. But here 

 too success scarcely crowns our quest. The leading case, 

 Barnard v. Roberts and Williams, yields, Delphic-like, Httle fight 

 or leading. 2 



The facts, briefly stated, were : Roberts and Williams 



1 The italics are mine. ^ 23 Law Times, 439. 



