LOCAL AND SPECIAL WORDS 55 



The word has probably come over to Yarmouth 

 with the Dutch fishermen. Herring full of roe 

 or milt are called by Scottish and Irish fisher- 

 men " matties," a corruption probably of the 

 Dutch word **matjes" or **maatjes." These 

 Dutch phrases, now part of the language of the 

 fisherman, prove more conclusively than any 

 document the influence of Holland on the 

 herring fisheries of the world. 



One or two other local words may also be 

 noted. 



In 1782 the word " cadger " appeared in 

 certain pamphlets to denote a hawker who 

 carried fish into inland parts of the country, 

 selling the fish for money or exchanging it for 

 country produce, such as eggs, butter, poultry, 

 and so on, which were in turn brought back to 

 the towns, and sold. The exchange by hawkers 

 or higglers of summer mackerel for eggs in mid- 

 Norfolk is not uncommon even to this day. 



The word " cadger " = hawker (carrier of 

 a pack) has passed into common usage in an 

 unworthy sense, as has the now nearly obsolete 

 word " coshganger," or '* cosher " (and to 

 go " coshing ") which in East Anglia is used to 

 denote a person who " sponges " upon another 

 by " cadging " a meal. The word " coshganger " 

 is of Irish origin, and was brought over by the 

 Irish cattle drovers who attended Norwich 

 cattle market ; it meant a country dweller who 

 declined to perform regular work. 



In the Spectator (No. 179), of Tuesday, 



