Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

†GOWDANOOK, GOWDNOOK, n. The skipper or saury, Scomberesox saurus (Sc. 1884 F. Day Fishes II. 152). Also erroneous forms gandanook, -nock.Clc. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ VIII. 598:
Sometimes, about the end of September, there comes a vast shoal of fish, called gandanooks, or Egyptian herrings. They have a faint resemblance of the mackarel, but with a long sharp bill, like a snipe.em.Sc. 1811 Wernerian Soc. Mem. I. 542:
Almost every autumn it enters the Frith of Forth in considerable shoals. Here it is named Gowdnook, Gowdanook, . . . and sometimes Egypt-herring.em.Sc. 1855 Scotsman (5 Nov.):
Vast shoals of fish of the genus Scomberesox, commonly known as Gowdnooks or Egyptian herrings, ascended the river Forth.