A.W.A.D. - Words Referring to Fish

I remember the day I caught my first, and last, fish. I was in college. During the winter break, a friend invited me to visit him. With makeshift fishing rods in our hands we went to the dam near his house. I sat there uneasily, holding the rod with the line dipped in the still water of the reservoir. A while later there was a tug and I promptly handed over the rod to my friend. He pulled the line in. There was a small orange fish on the end. It was alive, wildly flailing at its sudden change of fortune. With a promise of food I had tricked it out of its life.

Much time has passed since then. Now whenever I'm near water and see someone sitting with a fishing rod extended over the lake, I softly say "Good luck!" in his general direction. He thanks me. I tell him I was saying that to the fish. He smiles at the apparent joke... But I wasn't joking.

All of this week's words refer to fish, but they are more than just fish words. They can also be used metaphorically in other senses.

minnow
PRONUNCIATION: (MIN-o)
MEANING: noun:

1. Any of the small freshwater fish of the Cyprinidae family
2. Someone or something considered insignificant

ETYMOLOGY: Ultimately from Old High German munewa, a kind of fish, via Old English and Middle English.

gudgeon
PRONUNCIATION: (GUJ-uhn)
MEANING: noun:

1. A small European fresh-water fish (Gobio gobio) or any of the related fishes, often used as bait

2. A gullible person
3. A bait

4. A pivot, usually made of metal, at the end of a beam, axle, etc., on which a wheel or a similar device turns.

ETYMOLOGY: (for 1-3) From Latin gobion, variant of gobius, via Old French and Middle English. (For 4) From Middle English gudyon, from Old French goujon

remora
PRONUNCIATION: (REM-uhr-ah)
MEANING: noun:

1. Any of several fishes of the family Echeneididae that have a dorsal fin modified in the shape of a suction disk that they use to attach to a larger fish, sea-turtles, or ships. Also called sharksucker or suckerfish

2. Hindrance, drag

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin, literally delay, from remorari (to linger, delay), from re- + morari (to delay), from mora (delay).

inconnu
PRONUNCIATION:(in-kuh-NOO)
MEANING: noun:

1. A whitefish (Stenodus leucichthys) found in the arctic and subarctic. Also known as sheefish.

2. A stranger

ETYMOLOGY: From French, literally unknown. In 1789, explorer Alexander Mackenzie and his crew traveled the waterways of the Northwest territories in search of a Northwest passage. They came across an unknown fish and the French-Canadian voyageurs who were part of his crew called it inconnu.

tope
PRONUNCIATION: (tope)
MEANING: verb tr., intr.:
1. To drink (liquor) habitually and copiously
noun:
2. A small shark with a long snout (Galeorhinus galeus)
noun:
3. A usually dome-shaped monument built by Buddhists. Also known as a stupa

ETYMOLOGY: (for 1) Of uncertain origin, perhaps from obsolete top (to drink) as in "top off".(for 2) Of unknown origin.(for 3) From Hindi top, from Prakrit or Pali thupo, from Sanskrit stupa (head).