elft

Meaning

the allis shad, Alosa alosa

Concepts

shad

allis shad

alewife

alose

rock herring

alosa

Synonyms

meivis

Translations

alose

sável

Maifisch

sábalo

Alse

alosa

alosa

tirsi balığı

Miafisch

grande alose

alaccia

agone

Alosa

savelha

Etymology

Inherited from Middle Dutch: elft

Inherited from Old Dutch: *alvit

In summary

From Middle Dutch elft, possibly from an Old Dutch *alvit, from Proto-West Germanic *albut (“swan”). The semantic link to swans would be the fish's white color; the Germanic term ultimately derives from Proto-Indo-European *albʰós (“white”). This Indo-European word is generally accepted to be the most likely origin of this word, even if elft were found not to derive directly from Germanic *albits but to have entered the language through some other route.