Editing Scrod (section)

==Etymology==
The term "scrod" for a method of preparing fish, rather than a type or size of fish, is first attested in 1841. It is from the [[Anglo-Cornish]] dialect word ''scraw'':<ref name=MerrWebst2014>Merriam-Webster, 2014, "scrod", ''Merrian Webster Dictionary'', ''[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scrod s.v.]'', accessed 22 January 2014.</ref>

<blockquote>Fish are scrawed when they are prepared in a particular way before cooking. This scrawing consists in cutting them flatly open and then slightly powdering them with salt and sometimes with pepper. They are then exposed to the sun or air, that as much as possible of the moisture may be dried up. In this state they are roasted over a clear burning coal or wood fire. Thus prepared and smeared over with a little butter they are said to be 'scrawed'.<ref>''English Dialect Dictionary'' '''5''' (R–S), 1904, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=v4FBAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA275 s.v.]'', quoting from ''[[Notes and Queries]]'' '''10''' July–December 1854, [https://books.google.com/books?id=stQEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA418 p. 418], November 25, 1854</ref></blockquote>

A similar meaning is found in [[Scots language|Scots]] ''scrae'': "fish dried in the sun without being salted", attested in 1806.<ref>''English Dialect Dictionary'' '''5''' (R–S), 1904, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=v4FBAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA267 s.v.]''</ref>

This corresponds to its earliest documented meaning in American English: "a young or small cod fish, split and salted for cooking".<ref name='dare'>''[[Dictionary of American Regional English]]'', ''[https://www.daredictionary.com/abstract/dare/ID_00050747 s.v.]''</ref>{{when|date=April 2024}}

Another theory derives it from the Dutch ''schrood'', from [[Middle Dutch]] ''schrode'' 'a piece cut off', that is, cut up for drying or cooking.<ref name=Harper2014>Douglas Harper, 2014, ''Online Etymology Dictionary'' [http://www.etymonline.com/word/scrod ''s.v.''], accessed 24 November 2017.</ref> There is a rare variant ''escrod''.<ref name=OED2014_var>''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', 1st edition (1891), ''[http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/64327 s.v.]''</ref>

===Folklore===
The term has been credited to the [[Omni Parker House|Parker House Hotel]] in [[Boston]].<ref>{{Cite web|title = Omni Parker House Hotel founded in 1855. - iBoston|url = http://www.iboston.org/mcp.php?pid=parkerHouse|website = www.iboston.org|accessdate = 2015-12-08}}</ref> <!--
, but this is not possible, as the hotel postdates the earliest citations{{when}} by a decade -->

The term has attracted a number of jocular false etymologies.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.yankeemagazine.com/judsjournal/the-legend-of-the-sacred-cod-or-haddock-or-scrod|title = Yankee Magazine|accessdate = December 8, 2015}}</ref> One treats it as short for the "[[Sacred Cod]]" carving that hangs in the Boston State House."<ref name=Quinzio>Jeri Quinzio, 2014, "Food on the Rails: The Golden Era of Railroad Dining," Rowman & Littlefield, p. 112, see [https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1442227338], accessed 22 January 2014.</ref> Various [[acronym]]s have been suggested, though acronyms were hardly ever used in the past:<ref>Keith M. Denning et al., ''English Vocabulary Elements'', 2007 {{isbn|0198037538}}, p. 60</ref> "seaman’s catch received on deck,"<ref name=Quinzio/> supposedly any whitefish of the day;{{citation needed|date=January 2015}} for "small cod remaining on dock"; "select catch retrieved on [the] day."{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}

Scrod was apparently often used to mean simply fresh fish of the day, since menus were made up before the day's catch was brought in.{{citation needed|date=November 2017|reason=Supposedly in Yankee Magazine, but no issue given}}