Guddle

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈɡʌd(ə)l/

Definitions

1. To catch small fish by feeling around with the hands in the shallow parts of a river or stream
2. To search for and trap fish manually in running water by probing under rocks or gravel
3. To gather fish from a stream hand by hand, typically by feeling for them among stones and debris

Etymology: Guddling is a Scots word for a very hands-on way of fishing: wading into a stream, feeling under stones and gravel, and grabbing trout or other fish with bare hands. The verb's sound is doing much of the work. It seems to be imitative of splashing water, and it was shaped on the pattern of everyday English words like "muddle" and "puddle," which gave it a messy, wet-sounding rhythm that suits the activity. Scots "guddle" may also have been influenced by "gutter," a Scots verb meaning to spatter with mud. That overlap would have reinforced the idea of churning up water and silt while hunting for fish. Both words belong to the same Scots dialect vocabulary, so the connection is one of sound and sense rather than shared descent. The word has travelled beyond Scotland's rivers. A photograph of children guddling for fish in the Krka river near Male Rebrce, Slovenia, in the 1950s and 1960s shows the practice far from its Scots home, a reminder that the technique itself is older and more widespread than the word for it.

Synonyms: fumble, groping, scramble