THE PIKE 



Saxon the fish is hacod, and the learned Doctor says 

 that it was first termed a jack in this country, then 

 a pickerel, and then a luce. In Lowland Scotland 

 it is the gedd or gade, in Northumberland gullet, 

 and according to Halliwell a large pike was called 

 morris. 



An inquiry of this kind would have great interest 

 for the Rev. J. J. Manley, and he discusses it at some 

 length in his fishing book. Discarding the theory that 

 lucius (from which came the luce of heraldry) was, 

 because of certain phosphorescent properties displayed 

 by the fish in the dark, from luceo to shine, Manley 

 holds to the opinion that lucius was a reference to 

 its character of wolf. As to * pike,' the authorities 

 differ, and I rather accept Dr. Day's suggestion that 

 it is derived from the Saxon word signifying sharp 

 pointed. Just as sensible would be the French lerochet 

 or lerocheton, lance or lanceron, and becquet. These 

 names, indeed, admirably hit off the form of our 

 fish, with its spit-like shape of body, the darting 

 speed with which it pursues its prey, and. the 

 distinctively duck-like termination of the head. 



Some people are continually puzzled in their 

 endeavours to fix a boundary between the jack and 

 the pike, but there is none. As has been remarked 

 before, in country districts the word ' jack ' includes 



