saithe Sc.
(seɪθ)
Forms: 7 sheath, 7–9 seath, 8 seeth, 8–9 saith, seth, 9 se(e)the, seythe, 9– saithe.
[a. ON. seið-r (Edda Gl.), mod.Norw. seid, sei, Icel. seið, seiði fry of codfish. Cf. Gael. saigh, saighean (saoidhean, saoithean), the coal-fish; Irish saoidhean (Dinneen) the young of any fish, esp. of the codfish or coal-fish.]
The mature coal-fish. Also attrib.
| 1632 Lithgow Trav. x. 500 Ling, Turbet and Seaths. c 1680 in Macfarlane's Geogr. Collect. (S.H.S.) III. 248 It is called Shetland, because in old time, there were many Sheath-fish caught about its Coast. 1710 Sibbald Hist. Fife & Kinross 52 Asellus Niger, the Cole-fish of the North of England; our Fishers call it a Colman's-Seeth. 1792 Statist. Acc. Scotl. IV. 79 The fish commonly taken on this coast, are cod,..whitings, saiths or cuddies. 1793 Ibid. VII. 397 The tenants have from their landlords..a halfpenny for a seth (colefish). 1836 Yarrell Brit. Fishes (1841) II. 251 Among the Scotch islands the Coalfish is called Sillock,..Sethe, Sey, and Grey Lord. 1863 Johns Home Walks 114 Shoals of small fish, principally Sethe and Lythe. 1873 Black Pr. Thule xxvii, He proposed he should go ashore and buy a few lines with which they might fish for young saithe or lythe over the side of the yacht. 1892 Gentlew. Bk. Sport I. 67 The process of making a saithe-fly is very simple. 1895 Athenæum 14 Sept. 349/2 The angler may easily make a large catch either of mackerel or of pollack, seythe or herrings. |