ĮVAI RENYBĖS

Kazimieras GAIVENIS

NAMES OF SOME FISH

Perhaps we too will catch a goldfish After all the misfortunes and wars.

A. Baltakis

About 21,000 species of fish live in the world's seas, rivers, and lakes. People pay no attention to some of them because they are tiny (1–2 cm) and plain-looking. Others they fear like fire, knowing that their sharp teeth can fatally injure bathers or anyone who happens to enter the water. The color and shape of still others catch the eye, so people keep them in aquariums and admire them. A fourth group is caught, salted, frozen, and put in frying pans by people who know just how to do it. Thus, people's relations with fish have been varied since time immemorial.

.. About 60 species of fish live in Lithuania's fresh waters, and another 30 or so in the Baltic Sea off the Lithuanian coast. Most of our fish are native, while some have been introduced and acclimatized.

The oldest Lithuanian fish names are ancient Indo-European words, for example: erškėtas, ešerys, karšis, lašiša, lydeka, lynas, menkė, plekšnė, ungurys, vėgėlė and others. A characteristic feature of our fish names is synonymy. Popular fish have been called by several names, for example: gružlys (Gobio gobio) – kilbūkas, zablys, gūirė, gramzdė, kriaunys; kūoja (Rutilus rutilus) – mėkšras, brunšė; plākis (Blicca bjoerkna) – béržalpe, plėgždė, ykutis; raudė (Scardinius erythropthalmus) – raudonsp...

Since they resemble one another, many people confuse their names too. For example, sėliavos (Coregonus albula) closely resemble vendace (Coregonus lavaretus). In addition, the latter fish is highly variable. Ichthyologists say that at least four forms of vendace live in Lithuanian waters, for example: Baltijos sykas, ežerinis sykas and others. The largest vendace was caught in 1985 in Tau-

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… ragnė. It weighed 4.2 kg, was 76 cm long, and was 1.4 years old¹. J. Lyvinskis called the ide using the word šalvė, while the “Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian” (1993) says that the word šalvis is inaccurately used for at least four fish: trout, whitefish, grayling, and asp. Prof. T. Ivanauskas, meanwhile, used the words salava, šalava to refer to smelt. Thus, fish names are quite confusing. Only specialists can untangle them.

Another characteristic feature of fish names is that we Lithuanians have formed corresponding verbs from fish names to mean catching them, for example: aukšliúoti, lydekauti, stintinėti, šapalaúti (šapalinėti), and so on. Such word formation is unusual in some other languages more familiar to us. For example, although conversion is very common in English (cf. the fish “fish” and to fish “to fish”), English speakers would not say to burbot “to burbot-fish” but say catch burbots. Even our Latvian neighbors cannot say “to burbot-fish”; they say ķert vēdze-les.

We also have relatively few Lithuanian surnames derived from fish names, for example: Lydys, Lydekà, Lydekáitis, Lidekáuskis, Lidekávičius; Vėgėlė (and Vėgelávičius); Karosas, Šapalas; Šalvìs (and Šalvys); Kūjoja. It is interesting that there is no Lithuanian surname Ešerys (at least, we cannot find it in the “Dictionary of Lithuanian Surnames”), although these fish are among the most popular in Lithuania.

Smelt (Osmerus eperlanus L.), as Prof. V. Urbutis puts it, were once the main source of sustenance for thousands of people, especially the poor, along the shores of the Curonian Lagoon². In spring, everyone went out to catch smelt. The poet E. Matuzevičius writes about the smelt run as follows:

Such is the custom—nothing can be changed, And it matters not whether wind or rain: In spring, you’ll go on your first fishing trip, And you’ll be healthy throughout the year³.

¹ V i r b i c k a s J. Lietuvos žuvys. V., 1986, P. 34.

² U r b u t i s V. Baltų etimologijos etuidai. V., 1991. P. 175.

³ M a t u z e v i č i u s E. Rinktiniai raštai. V., 1987. T. 1. P. 136.

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The word stinta is a Germanism, while the word stinka, used in the east, is a Polonism. Lake smelt, which zoologists call lake smelt (Osmerus eperlanus m. relicta), smell deliciously strong. The people of La-banoras say their smell is like that of freshly fermented cucumbers. The northern seas’ capelin do not smell. For a time after the war, they were called by the Russian (actually Finnish) word moiva. A term, stintenė, has now been coined for them.

In the great “Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language,” the entry for the word seliava includes this sentence from A. Juška’s dictionary: “The seliava has a white eye, while the smaila has a red one.” So which red-eyed relative of the seliava was A. Juška talking about? The same dictionary shows that the word smaila was used for two fish: the bleak and the gudgeon. Unfortunately, neither has red eyes. So perhaps the word smaila was also used for a third fish—the rudd, or žiežulė (Scardinius erythrophtalmus L.)? Its eyes really do have a red spot in the upper part. In fact, roach (also called mekšra) (Rutilus rutilus L.) have red eyes too. By the way, the word žiežulė (“to be angry”) was probably also used to name this fish because of its red eyes.

There are cases where young fish are called by different words from adult fish. For example, the word nėgė is a Germanism. In Prof. V. Urbutis’s words, “Lithuanians probably received this name—most likely via the Curonians—from Latvian.” In the terminology of fish systematics, the word nėgė is relatively recent. J. Elisonas did not yet use this word; he called the fish in question septyntaškė (there are seven pairs of gill openings resembling dots near its head). Prof. T. Ivanauskas was probably the first to adopt the word nėgė in fish-systematics terminology. A. Juška and F. Kuršaitis called the river lamprey (Lampetra fluviatilis L.) devynakė. It seems that choosing the number “nine” here is motivated only figuratively, namely: nine means “many” (cf. the bird name devynbalsė—Sylvia). Lamprey larvae are called graužavirba (graužavirbla), smegžernė, and so on. The motivation behind these compound words suggests that the little fish like to burrow into the riverbed. The word

‘ Urb u l i s V. Ibid. P. 153.

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vingilis actually means not a graužavirba, but an individual that has not undergone metamorphosis⁵. Vingiliai of the small lamprey (Lampetra planeri) may even spawn. All lampreys are non-symbiotic, blood-sucking fish. Here is what the zoologist J. Elisonas vividly wrote about them: “The septyntaškė feeds mostly on carrion or, if it succeeds in attaching itself, on the bodies of live fish as well. It does not disdain various small aquatic animals, such as worms and the like. Having attached itself to an aquatic animal, the septyntaškė first pierces its skin with its horny teeth, then, like a true parasite, begins to suck all the body fluids and flesh from its host with its tongue. The septyntaškės sometimes cause fishers a great deal of trouble: when they attack their nets, they can ruin them in a single night—in other words, devour the fish caught in them”⁶.

Old Lithuanian fish names are mostly not compound words. New names (probably by analogy) are now very often formed with the second element žuvis (-žuvė), for example: bizonžuvė (Ictiobus ap- prinellus), katžuvė (Ictalurus punctatus), saulažuvė (Leneaspius delineatus), taukvė (Pholis gunellus L.), vėjažuvė (Belone belone L.), vilkžuvė (Anarchichas lupus L.), and so on. From the “Household Encyclopedia” (V., 1987), one could also add juodažuvė (a large fish, sometimes weighing up to 10 kg and caught in the northern seas of the Far East), šernažuvė (a small but tasty fish caught near the Hawaiian Islands), and papūgažuvė (a very tasty fish caught off the coast of Cuba). All such names are possible, but this method of word formation should not be extended too far. From the standpoint of systematics, all these names are poor because they conflict with the requirements of international nomenclature codes. Moreover, when coining new names, primitive calques should be avoided, for example: lydėlinė baltažuvė (Champsocelus esox), cf. Russian щучья белокопка. It should be called something else (e.g., paprastoji ledžuvė). The name didžiažuvė (Percottus glenhi) is also rather poor, cf. Russian головешка. One could adapt for it the name of a mold fungus of the Aspergillus class (Aspergillus), namely galvenė. Thus the species name cou-

⁵ Urbutis V. Ibid. P. 153.

⁶ Elisonas J. Zoologijos vadovėlis aukštesniosios mokykloms. K., 1925. P. 386.

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ld be paprastoji galvė.

The spelling of some fish names varies very often. Even in very nicely published books, one sometimes finds incorrect spellings, for example: skernukis (= skerssnukis), strimėlė (= strimelė), and so on. The “Household Encyclopedia” (1987) contains other unsuitable names, for example: čavica (= Pacific salmon), saida (= Arctic cod), vobla (= Caspian roach), and so on.

Probably the most terrifying of all exotic fish is the piranha (Rooseveltiela nattereri). Zoologists often also call it the American salmon-carp. Alongside the word piranha, the nonstandard form piraja is also sometimes found. These fish live in the Amazon basin. Their voracity is said to be indescribable. One fisherman wrote: “Once, as we were crossing a river in a boat, we shot a wild boar that was swimming across the river near us. The Indian sitting at the steering oar tied the boar to the boat, and we dragged it to shore, intending to feast. But our dreams were not to come true: a large shoal of pirajas (= piranhas – K.G.), sensing the blood, immediately surrounded the boar and attacked it. In an instant, the water churned with the sudden movements of those little devils, tearing at the boar’s flesh. When we reached the opposite bank, little of the boar was left”⁸. The word piranha came through Portuguese from the language of the Tupi (Brazilian Indigenous people). Prof. T. Ivanauskas, describing an expedition to Brazil, wrote that they caught piranhas in Lake Piri-Piri, which in the language of the local Indigenous tribe means “fish, fish”⁹. Thus, the root of the word piranha may also mean fish.

Aquarium fish are interesting and beautiful too: guppies shimmering in all the colors of the rainbow, phlegmatic gouramis, green and nimble platies, the big-eyed cousins of silver crucian carp, telescope fish, rosy swordtails, little catfish feeling along the bottom with their whiskers, colorful feisty bettas, graceful black mollies, flat-bodied angelfish, and so on. Almost all these little fish have non-Lithuanian names. Some names are also incorrect. For example, aquarium enthusiasts often call the karduočius (Hipophorus) by the wrong name—

⁷ Virbickas J. Ibid. P. 19, 57.

⁸ Across continents and countries. K., 1979. P. 17-18.

⁹ Ivanauskas T. Trys mėnesiai Brazilijoje. V., 1960. P. 112.

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they are commonly called swordtails, because the males of these fish have a tail projection resembling a sword. The latter word is often a calque from Latin. J. Pabrėža once tried to create similar calques for plant-systematics terminology based on the word swordtail, but later they were all replaced by other terms.

For some little fish from warm-water regions, which are also kept in aquariums, together with specialists we have coined several Lithuanian names, for example: gray pike-characin (Ctenolucius hujeta insculpatus), green spindlefish (Labeo frenatus), common spotted headstander (Chilodus punctatus), and others. However, this is only the beginning of the work. Many aquarium fish still lack suitable Lithuanian names. Moreover, their fish names also need to be put in order.

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