Common name | Sixgill shark |
Language | English |
Type | Vernacular |
Official trade name | No |
Rank | 3 - (Other common name) |
Country | South Africa |
Locality | |
Ref. | Bass, A.J., P.C. Hemstra and L.J.V. Compagno, 1986 |
Life stage | juveniles and adults |
Sex | females and males |
Core | primary lexeme |
1st modifier | morphology |
2nd modifier | |
Remarks | 'Sixgill', i.e., with six gill slits; '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). |