sparling

From Middle English sperlynge, shortened from Old French esperlinge, a Germanic borrowing, found in German Spiering, Spierling, Middle Low German spirling, Middle Dutch spierling, suffixed from the word now Dutch spier (“spar, pole; muscle”). See also sparrow for a homonymic bird-name.

sparling (plural sparlings)

1. (Scotland) A European smelt (Osmerus eperlanus).

   Synonym: (obsolete) sperling

• sperling (“(US) young herring”)

• “sparling”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• graplins, laspring, springal