FISKR

(-s, -ar), m. fish; flatr f., heilagr f., flat-fish, halibut.

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m. [Lat. piscis; Ulf. fisks; A. S. fisc; Engl. fish; Germ. fisch; Swed.-Dan. fisk]

I. a fish, of both sea and fresh-water fish, esp. cod, trout, salmon are often κατ ἐξ. called ‘fish,’ Sks. 180, Hkr. ii. 385; var þar undir f. nógr, Bárð. 169; at miði því er þik man aldri fisk bresta, id.; þar var hvert vatn fullt af fiskum, Eg. 134; fugla ok fiska, Grág. ii. 345, Sturl. ii. 165, passim; of the zodiacal fishes, 1812. 17:—different kind of fish, heilagr fiskr (mod. heilag-fiski), halibut, Þorf. Karl., Bs. i. 365; flatr f., id., Edda 35; hval-f., a ‘whale fish;’ beit-f. (q. v.), bait fish; ill-fiskar, ill or evil fishes, sharks; skel-f., shell fish; blautr f., fresh fish, N. G. L. iii. ch. 2, 5; skarpr f., dried fish, Bs. i. 209, 365, 367, in mod. usage harðr fiskr; freð-f. = frer-f., frozen fish, preserved by being frozen: as to fishing vide Hým. 17 sqq., Bs. ii. ch. 2, 87, Guðm. S. ch. 87, Nj. ch. 11, Edda l. c., Eb. ch. 11, Fbr. ch. 40, Landn. 2. 5, Ld. ch. 12, 58, Bárð. ch. 9, Rafn S. ch. 10, D. I. and Bs. passim in the Miracle-books: the section of law regarding this important branch of livelihood in Iceland is wanting in the present Grágás, proving that this collection is not complete, but in a fragmentary state.

β. the flesh of a fish, for in Icel. the word flesh can only be used of a land-animal; thus, hvítr á fiskinn, having white flesh.

II. metaph., kinn-fiskar, the flesh on the cheeks (of a man); kinnfiska-soginn, with sunken cheeks: the phrase, e-m vex fiskr um hrygg, one’s back gains muscle, i. e. one gains strength: fjör-fiskr, live fish, a phrase for spasms of the muscles, the ‘growing pains’ common in children,—the fjör-fiskr is said to bound or leap (sprikla), which is regarded as a sign of good health and growth.

III. fish were used as units of value, each = half an ell’s worth (vide alin), esp. in southern and Western Icel., cp. fiskvirði; hence the standing phrase in the title-page of books of later times, ‘charge so many fishes.’

COMPDS: fiskaá, fiskaferð, fiskakaup, fiskakyn, fiskamerki, fiskapollr, fiskaskip, fiskastöð, fiskastöng, fiskatíund, fiska-tollr, fiska-ver, vide fiski-, Am. 3, Fms. iv. 330, and endless other compds.