merling

From Middle English merlynge, from Old French merlenc, from Latin merula.

merling (plural merlings)

1. The fish Merlangius merlangus, endemic to the North Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, western Baltic Sea and Black Sea.
   • 1995, Maryanne Kowaleski, footnote, Local Markets and Regional Trade in Medieval Exeter, page 310,

     The types were cod, conger eel, common eel, dried fish (most probably cod and hake), hake, herring, lamprey, ling, mackerel, merling (whiting), mulwell, pike, pilchard, pollack, porpoise, ray, salmon, stockfish (probably cod), sturgeon, and whiting; they arrived fresh, dried, salted, or smoked.

• (Merlangius merlangus): whiting (UK)
  • (in countries outside the range of Merlangius merlangus): English whiting, European whiting

• gremlin, mingler