Allis

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A large European shad fish of the herring family that migrates from the sea up rivers to spawn
2. Another name for the allis shad, a sea-going herring-like fish found along European coasts and rivers
3. A deep-bodied migratory fish related to herrings, native to European waters and known for its upriver spawning runs

Etymology: Allis is a fish name built on the word "all", but the link is more puzzling than the fish. The shad-like "allis" (the allis shad, a migratory relative of herring that spawns in European rivers) got its name from a shortening of "all", though nothing in the source explains why a fish would be called "all" at all. Its origin is therefore unclear, and the fish itself is simply a member of the herring family that climbs rivers to spawn. The word "all" itself has relatives across the Germanic languages, including Dutch "al", German "all", and Old Norse-derived forms such as Icelandic "allur", all meaning the same thing. Its wider family also reaches Welsh "holl" and Irish "uile", which share the sense "whole" or "every", though these are cousins rather than sources.