Fishing from the earliest times - Blog

46 INTRODUCTIONgives Fishing — " to catch, or try to catch fish " —wide enoughfor all our purpose and for most of our performances ! Intheir definitions of Angling, Angle, etc., the majority of dictionariesdisagree, but unite in deriving Angle from the Aryanroot, ANK=to bend, and establishing the fishing term as thecousin of the awkward angles of Euclid and of our youth.The N.E.D. in its definitions of ' Angle ' (sb.), of ' Angle ' (vb.),of ' Angler,' or of ' AngHng,' does not even agree with itself.Thus we find :(A) " Angle (sb.), a fish hook : often in later use extended to theline, or tackle, to which it is fastened, and the Rod towhich this is attached. See Book of St. Alban's (titleof ed. 2), Treatyse perteynynge to Hawkynge, Huntynge,and Fysshynge with an Angle."(B) " Angle (vb.), to use an angle : to fish with a hook and bait."(C)" Angler, one who fishes with a hook and line."(D) " Angling, the action or art of fishing with a rod." *If A, B, C, which all differ, are accurate, D can hardly be so.Further from A, B, C, we can deduce no correct definition of D.Under D the N.E.D. imports as a necessary component partof angHng the presence of a rod, but I venture to think oninsufficient grounds. In the first quotation cited in support," Fysshynge, callyd Anglynge with a rodde," the word " rodde,"if D hold good, must be redundant or unnecessary. " Rodde "I hold to be an added word of limitation, or description, as in" Fysshynge with an Angle."But since the dictionaries do hardly help—to some, indeed,they smack of " the heinous crime of word-splitting " —andsince the importance (apart from etymological reasons) ofpossessing an accurate and adequate definition presses, let usprostrate ourselves before another oracle, the Law. But heretoo success scarcely crowns our quest. The leading case,Barnard v. Roberts and Williams, yields, Delphic-like, Httle fightor leading.The facts, briefly stated, were :Robertsand Williams1The italics are mine. ^23 Law Times, 439.