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Menhaden

2 stages from Narragansett to English.

Today it means a small, bony, oily fish found along the Atlantic coast, harvested for fish oil and meal

Where does the word "menhaden" come from? It comes from Narragansett munnawhatteaug, adopted directly into English (1750s).

munnawhatteaug→menhaden

Narragansett · 1600s

"a fish used as fertilizer"

named the oily fish that coastal Algonquian peoples used to fertilize corn crops

English · 1750s

"a small, oily fish used historically as fertilizer and bait"

adapted by English colonists in New England who adopted the same fish and farming practice

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