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Origin and history of minke

minke(n.)

type of small whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), 1939, supposedly from the Norwegian surname Meincke.

The name minke is said to have derived from one of Svend Foyn's crew by the name of Meincke, who mistook a school of these whales for blue whales. Whalers all over the world considered this incident so amusing that they used his name as a household word to describe this species. [J.N. Tønnessen & A.O. Johnsen, "The History of Modern Whaling" (transl. R.I. Christophersen), 1982]

Also known in English as the lesser rorqual and little piked whale.

also from 1939

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Trends of minke

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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little
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whale
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present
c. 1300, "being in the same place as someone or something;" early 14c., "existing at the time," from Old French present "evident, at hand, within reach;" as a noun, "the present time" (11c., Modern French présent) and directly from Latin praesentem (nominative praesens) "present,
change
c. 1200, "to alter, make different, change" (transitive); early 13c. as "to substitute one for another;" mid-13c. as "to make (something) other than what it was, cause to turn or pass from one state to another;" from late 13c. as "to become different, be altered" (intransitive),
ballpark
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nation
c. 1300, nacioun, "a race of people, large group of people with common ancestry and language," from Old French nacion "birth, rank; descendants, relatives; country, homeland" (12c.) and directly from Latin nationem (nominative natio) "birth, origin; breed, stock, kind, species; r
redemption
mid-14c., redemcioun, "deliverance from sin," from Old French redemcion (12c.) and directly from Latin redemptionem (nominative redemptio) "a buying back or off, a releasing, a ransoming" (also "bribery"), noun of action from past-participle stem of redimere "to redeem, buy back,
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by 1730, a method of digging ore, from French manipulation, from manipule "handful" (a pharmacists' measure), from Latin manipulus "handful, sheaf, bundle," from manus "hand" (from PIE root *man- (2) "hand") + root of plere "to fill" (from PIE root *pele- (1) "to fill"). Sense of
meat
Middle English mēte, from Old English mete "food, nourishment, sustenance" (paired with drink), "item of food; animal food, fodder," also "a meal, repast," from Proto-Germanic *mati (source also of Old Frisian mete, Old Saxon meti, Old Norse matr, Old High German maz, Gothic mats

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