Etymology

opah

O1P3A1H4

Today it means: Any of various large, colourful, deep-bodied pelagic fish of the family Lamprididae. Full definition →

Igbo uba
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The story

  1. Igbo · derived fromuba
  2. English todayopah

From Igbo uba. Earliest attestation in English is the Royal Society’s 1752 Philosophical Transactions, 1749–50 (vol. 46, p. 519): “The black Prince, and his Cousin, from Anamaboe on the Coast of Guinea, and Mr. Creighton, formerly Governor of Capo Corso Castle, upon seeing this Fish immediately knew it, and said it was common on that Coast … The Natives call it Opah, and the English there call it the King-fish”

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.