Middle English Dictionary Entry
sharpling n.
Entry Info
| Forms | sharpling n. Pl. sharp(e)linges. |
| Etymology | From sharp adj. or sharping(e ger.(b). |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) A nail of some kind; (b) a fish of some kind, probably, as in modern English, a stickleback ("A small, scaleless, bony fish .. of the genus Gasterosteus" -- OED.
Associated quotations
a
- (1415) Fabric R.Yk.Min.in Sur.Soc.3535 : Custus clavorum..In cc sharpelynges emptis, prec. 16 d.
- (1451-2) MSS Penshurst in HMC1.222 : [Nails called] sharpelynges.
- (1456) Fabric R.Yk.Min.in Sur.Soc.3567 : Wilelmo Jakson et socio suo pro diversis clavis..cc sharplynges, xiiij m dobyl spikynges, [etc.].
- (1470-71) Fabric R.Yk.Min.in Sur.Soc.3575 : ix sharplynges, c di. brages, [etc.].
b
- ?a1475 Gloss RSS in Sln.1986 (Sln 1986)56 : Scharplyng [glossing:] perca [vr. carpa].
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: Sense (b) represents an English gloss on a Latin term, both of which are otherwise attested with meanings that do not correspond. Latin 'perca' is a perch, as 'carpa' (a variant in the Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum tradition) is a carp; neither resembles a stickleback.