During my stay, the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther provided me with the Glossary of Names Used in Scotland for Fishes Taken in Scottish Waters (GNF).^[1] This glossary, which was compiled in the late 1920s by the fishery board for Scotland, shows a great variety of different words for some species of fish. The greatest variety was given under the heading salmon (45 different names) which was possibly due to it being a taboo word.^[2] There were also many different names for cod, herring, or the grey gurnard. The two former had many names as they were, and are, some of the most widely caught commercial species. The various names of the latter may also be accounted for by the fact that it produces an unusual grunting or growling sound when taken from the water. Many of these words have probably already died out. For instance, I did not come across any other name for herring (question 69) than the word herring itself which might be due to the decline of the herring industry. The names given for cod and its different sizes were also not as numerous in the present study as one might expect from referring to the glossary of the fishery board (GNF).

In connection with superstitions, some of the fishermen were asked about their name for salmon. As salmon is no longer a taboo word, the various names for it were also hardly remembered.^[3] Red-fish was the general name given, extending from Burnmouth up to Gourdon. The only other name given was queer fellows in Anstruther (X).

Due to technical problems, I have no answers from informant IV concerning the questions about the fish. Questions 68, 69, 70 are omitted as they did not yield results worth presenting.

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[1] According to a librarian of the fisheries museum, GNF was probably compiled in 1928. This could not be established for certain, however.

[2] Cf. chapter 3.4.

[3] E.g., informant XVI still knew that fishermen used to have various names for salmon but could not remember them: "I couldnae think of what they called them here."