A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1990 (DOST Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
(Rische-fish,) Rush-fish, Russ-fish, n. [Rische n. Cf. later Sc. dial. rash-fish.] The smelt. —1684 Sibbald Scot. Illustr. ii iii App. 37 (see Retche).
Rush-fish 16.. Macfarlane's Geog. Coll. III 191.
Russ-fish, so called from their smell and colour, being sea-green coloured, and smelling like a bundle of green bushes. These seem spurlings