Originally Posted By: twosleepy
 Originally Posted By: Myridon
it seems the place might be named for the fish, so it's an ichthonym. (^_^)

so the fish are named after the place, not the reverse.

From etymonline:
 Quote:
c.1430, from L. sardina, from Gk. sardine, sardinos, often said to be from Sardo "Sardinia" (see Sardinia), the Mediterranean island, near which the fish were probably caught and from which they were exported. But cf. Klein: "It is hardly probable that the Greeks would have obtained fish from so far as Sardinia at a time relatively so early as that of Aristotle, from whom Athenaios quotes a passage in which the fish sardinos is mentioned." Colloquial phrase packed like sardines (in a tin) is recorded from 1911.


BTW, the plural of fish is fish. The fish plural who are collectively known today as sardines - better?

It's also doubtful that the ancient Greeks practiced modern taxonomy.

Last edited by Myridon; 06/22/08 11:17 PM.