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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004Sprag - Etymology
Hello Anybody elsewhere heard the word 'sprag'? It means 'to inform on', 'to grass'. As in: 'I sprag on my mate.' 'He spragged on me.' 'We've spraggen on each other.' I know it's been in use for at least fifty years in northern Lincolnshire. There are but 2 hits on Google that have the word how I mean (that I can find). One is from Hull, the other Macclesfield. Any guesses (or better)? I can only think that it could be somehow like 'speak', but dutch or german? Thanks Joseph "Joseph Smith" <stetsdigs@hotmail.com> wrote... > Anybody elsewhere heard the word 'sprag'? > [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > Any guesses (or better)? I can only think that it could be somehow > like 'speak', but dutch or german? Or it could be a humorous development of the older slang "grass" that you mention, bringing in asparagus/sparrowgrass. Was that a big crop in Lincolnshire? Matti > Hello > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > Any guesses (or better)? I can only think that it could be somehow > like 'speak', but dutch or german? In my area it's twag. No info, though. m. > Hello > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > There are but 2 hits on Google that have the word how I mean (that I > can find). One is from Hull, the other Macclesfield. When I worked as a radio operator on deepsea (Iceland, Greenland, etc) trawlers from Hull and Grimsby, sprag was another name for cod. > > Hello > > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > When I worked as a radio operator on deepsea (Iceland, Greenland, etc) > trawlers from Hull and Grimsby, sprag was another name for cod. One of the mentions on the net was from Hull, and I'm not far from Grimsby at all. But I have no idea what it could have to do with cod. It may be cod is known for being a treacherous fishie? Joseph > > > Hello > > > [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > One of the mentions on the net was from Hull, and I'm not far from > Grimsby at all. But I have no idea what it could have to do with cod. http://www.fao.org/wairdocs/tan/x5911e/x5911e01.htm The name Atlantic cod is sometimes used, particularly in North America, in order to avoid confusion with a quite different species, the Pacific cod, Gadus macrocephalus. Small cod are usually known as codling, and fishes intermediate in size between cod and codling are sometimes called sprags; the sizes to which these names refer are given later in this note. The name poor cod is used to describe a smaller and much less important relative of the cod, Gadus minutus. http://www.theverybestofstuff.de/contents/data/fish/sprag.htm Most of the fishermen used the name codling for any cod which was not full-grown. A distinction between sprag (a half-sized cod) and codling (a very tiny cod) was only made by informants I, II, III, VI. Informant XII called a very tiny cod "pout or fry" and used sprag as another name for cod. |
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