Common name | White shark |
Language | English |
Type | Vernacular |
Official trade name | No |
Rank | 2 - (Preferred common name (unique)) |
Country | Canada |
Locality | British Columbia |
Ref. | Hart, J.L., 1973 |
Life stage | juveniles and adults |
Sex | females and males |
Core | primary lexeme |
1st modifier | color pattern(s) |
2nd modifier | |
Remarks | 'White', i.e., without color, from prehistoric Germanic 'khwitaz' from Indo-European 'kwitnos, kwidnos' (p. 573 in Ref. 11979); 'shark', of obscure origins but appears to have been introduced by members of the Sir John Hawkins' expedition ( a ballad of 1569 recorded 'There is no proper name for [the fish] that I know, but that certain men of Captain Hawkins's doth call it a shark'), ressembles Austrian dialect 'schirk', i.e., sturgeon (p. 471 in Ref. 11979). |