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   goatsarah (goatsarah@thegoatery.dyndns.org)'s status on Tuesday, 21-Mar-2023 07:00:07 JST goatsarah
   WARNING! I have a marlinspike and I’m not afraid to use it!
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     goatsarah (goatsarah@thegoatery.dyndns.org)'s status on Tuesday, 21-Mar-2023 23:59:42 JST goatsarah

     in reply to

     • Alexandra Lanes
     @ajlanes citation needed? Wikipedia reckons the Marlin is so-named because it has a marlinspike on its face.
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     Alexandra Lanes (ajlanes@mastodon.online)'s status on Tuesday, 21-Mar-2023 23:59:43 JST Alexandra Lanes

     in reply to

     @goatsarah Marlins beware! (False friend etymology there; it’s actually from a root cognate with “mooring”)

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     goatsarah (goatsarah@thegoatery.dyndns.org)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Mar-2023 04:19:05 JST goatsarah

     in reply to
     Yup. And you used the marline spike, or marline spike, to work it. Then contraction happened and it became “marlinspike”.
     
     But yes, it is indeed named after Marl Line, and the fish appears to be named after the tool.
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     Alisdair Calder McGregor (a_c_mcgregor@topspicy.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Mar-2023 04:19:06 JST Alisdair Calder McGregor

     in reply to

     • Alexandra Lanes

     @ajlanes @goatsarah Marline (with an e) is I think the cord with which one marls a larger rope. That may well be a backformatiom from Marl+Line, though

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     Alexandra Lanes (ajlanes@mastodon.online)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Mar-2023 04:19:07 JST Alexandra Lanes

     in reply to

     • Alisdair Calder McGregor

     @A_C_McGregor @goatsarah This does get confusing (although my brain is not in tiptop operation today). Wiktionary lists marline < MLGer marling < MDutch marlijn (“cord”) < marlen (“secure, fasten”), frequentative of maren (“to moor”) < Proto-Germanic *mairōną (“to moor, fasten to”), from PIE *mer-. But for the cover meaning of marl it has < ME marle < OFr marle, < LL margila, diminutive of marga (“marl”). I may have to find a real dictionary.

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     Alisdair Calder McGregor (a_c_mcgregor@topspicy.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Mar-2023 04:19:08 JST Alisdair Calder McGregor

     in reply to

     • Alexandra Lanes

     @ajlanes @goatsarah "To marl" is a (somewhat archaic and obscure) verb meaning to cover the end of a rope to prevent fraying

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     Alexandra Lanes (ajlanes@mastodon.online)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Mar-2023 04:19:09 JST Alexandra Lanes

     in reply to

     @goatsarah Ah so it’s marlin < marlinspike fish < marlinspike < marlin < moor

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     goatsarah (goatsarah@thegoatery.dyndns.org)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Mar-2023 04:20:32 JST goatsarah

     in reply to
     Alisdair is right. It’s from marl, which is thin cord used for whipping (securing the end of a spliced rope).
     
     It’s not related to mooring, other tha.lb mooring lines would indeed be marled.
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     goatsarah (goatsarah@thegoatery.dyndns.org)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Mar-2023 04:24:07 JST goatsarah

     in reply to
     ok, I see the confusion. It’s the fasten part, not the moor part. Marl line, which we now call whipping, is used to fasten the end of a rope, to stop it coming unwoven.