354 CLAM— COALFISH 



Cleland, in his etymological vocabulary of 17G8, observes that 

 from the word concha, a shell used by the Northerns for a drinking 

 cup in their "sligacrechins or compotations," the modern Italians 

 took their word concare for carousing, and the English to junket. 



A Gaelic satire has the following verse : — 



** Casan caola, cama, gobhlach, tana. Slender legs and crooked, bandy, 



cruaidh, thin and hard, 



Bru mar shlige-chrcachainn Paunch like shell of scallop 



Air an nighinn ruaidh." Has the red-haired jaud. 



The clam is heritably fixed as a name in Creachan, which 

 indeed occurs in many places ; the name of an island in Loch Erne, 

 Fermanagh, Ireland, now corrupted into craghan. 



It is unnecessary to remind our readers how the " shell " is 

 referred to in Ossian's poems and elsewhere. 



COALFISH. — Ceideanach, ceiteanach, cudag, cudaig, cudaige, 

 cudainn ; Glaisean, glasag ; Piccach, piocach ; Saidh, saidhean, 

 saodhan, saoidhean, saoithean, smalag, sodhan, steinloch, suian, 

 suidhean, suidhean-dubh or mor, suithean, suitheon ; Ucas, uesa, 

 ugs, ugsa. 



Badock, haddock (immature fry), bellaes, bib (young), bil, 

 billets (one year), billard, black-jack mouth pollack salmon, bleck, 

 blockan (mid-sized), blue backs ; Coalman, coalmie, coalsay, coalsey, 

 coal-whiting, colack, colefish, colemie, colfisch, colman's seeth 

 (Fife), Colmey, colmic, commie, commonie (young), cooth, couth, 

 couthioc, cudden, cuddie, cuddin, cuthin (young), cyth ; Dargie, 

 druillins ; Gerrack, gerroch, gilpin, ginkan, glashan, glassan, 

 glassock, gleshan, glosong, glossan, glossin, golack, green cod or 

 pollack, grey fish ling or lord (fully grown), guildee, guldee, 

 (young), gull fish ; Hallan, harbin, harbine (two years), hoal- 

 piltock ; Kede, kethe, kuth ; Leure, lob, lob-keeling, lord (fully 

 grown) ; Miller's thoomb, moulrush ; Pennock, pickies, pickock, 

 picky (young), piltack, piltock, podler, podley, podlie, podling, 

 poUachie, pollack, poodler, poodlie, prinkle ; Queeth, quith ; 

 Ranning, rigs, rock salmon ; Sae, saed, saet, said, saithe, say, 

 sea-minnow (young), seath, sede, seelock, seeth, seil, seithe, seth, 

 sethe, sey, sillock, silluk, skoorie, skrae-fish, smelt, spillyar, spilyer- 

 staneloch, stanlock, steinlock, stenloch, streamer, syes, syth ; 

 Tibric, tibrick, etc. 



This fish, next to the herring, is the best known, and perhaps 

 the most useful of all the fishes caught on the west coast, etc. As 

 will be seen it goes under a great variety of names in Great 

 Britain, and in Ireland its names are said to be legion. The 

 various stages of its growth known to us are as follows : — Siol or 

 siolagan, cudaige or cudain, smalag or ceiteanach, saoidhean or 

 j)iocach, saoidhean dubh or mor, and ucsa or ugsa. They rank 

 under the general term " Glas-iasg," or grey fish ; the term 

 piocach or piocaich was, it is said, given them because they 



