DCHP-3

yaffle

DCHP-2 (Oct 2016)

Spelling variants:
yaffel, yafful

1an. — Fishing, Newfoundland

an armful, usually of fish, usually cod, and occasionally kindling.

Type: 3. Semantic Change — Yaffle is among the many Newfoundland words that can be traced back to West Country English, a result of the significant number of people from southwest England that chose to settle throughout the island and in southern Labrador (Clarke 2010b: 105-106). EDD (s.v. "yafful") defines the British dialectal term as "a handful; an armful", which has been semantically narrowed in Newfoundland to an armful of fish (or wood) because of the province's close ties to the sea and fishing industry (Clarke 2010b: 118-119). The precise origin of the term is unclear, though several proposals have been made (see the 1916 and 1984 quotations).
See also COD-2, s.v. "yaffle", which is marked "Cdn (Nfld)", and OED-3, s.v. "yaffle" (n.3), which is marked "dial. (now chiefly Newfoundland)", EDD, s.v. "yafful" (1), which is marked "Nfld.".

Quotations

1862
Daily News 28 Apr [p.2] [He] was charged with having purloined a quantity, known in this land as a yaffle of dry fish.
1907
Yaffle, an armful of fish.
1916
A 'yaffle' was as many dry fish as a person could conveniently throw to another in one parcel; it is possibly a West Country corruption of handful.
1948
ON THE BAWN -- Here is a view of activity on the "bawn", at Grand Bank. The partly dried codfish which has been sheltered all night in tarpaulin-covered piles is now being taken away in "yaffels", or armfuls, and spread upon the beach for its final day's sun.
1956
When I returned with the final yaffle of driftwood from around a bend, Jennie was nowhere in sight.
1971
[The following letter] refers to a particular yaffle of fine light salted fish. "In 1939 I built a dwelling house and during the summer we piled some dried cod in the partly finished house which I persume must have dropped down between the ceiling and the walls and was not discovered until I removed the house this fall. [...]"
1984
And take the word "yaffle". In Newfoundland it's an armload of fish; in Saint Pierre, it's javelle and has the same meaning. Dr. Harold Paddock, linguistics, says that in Dorset, England (from whence comes the Newfoundland term) a yaffle meant an armload of hay. "When you go to Normandy," says Dr. Park, "a javelle is also an armload of hay." Javelle originally was a Norman French word which crossed the channel. The English term travelled to Newfoundland; the French term went directly from Normandy to Saint Pierre.
1999
So important has the cod fishery been in the history of Newfoundland that many other terms are strongly tied to cod. A yaffle can refer to a small load of cod; a rounder refers to a small cod that's gutted, salted and dried without being split; and faggot refers to a stack of salted codfish.
2006
People usually stored their firewood in a shed, or a linny attached to the back of the home. Junks of wood were carted into the home by the yaffle, or armload, as needed. Hiscock explains that the words linny and yaffle were both words brought over from Europe. "A linny is an Irish-ism, for sure. The Irish spelling is l-i-n-h- a-y. Yaffle, on the other hand, comes from the West Country of England. It was a word used to explain the bringing in of hay," Hiscock says.
1bv.

to gather an armful of something, usually of cod, kindling, etc.

Type: 3. Semantic Change — See meaning 1a.
See also OED-3, s.v. "yaffle" (v.3), which is marked "dial. (now chiefly Newfoundland)".

Quotations

1891
Holly Branch 19 Titivates herself to meet her beau who daily 'yaffles' fish.
1907
A fisherman from a neighboring outport appeared before His Honor this forenoon. He got tired "yaffling" yesterday, and for a change he came on shore.
1927
Fish must not be dumped from the barrows into the schooner's hold. It must be yaffled, and passed from hand to hand.
1937
YAFFLE [...] An armful, especially of dried fish. Also, to take up such an armful. "We're going to yaffle them boughs, now." Yaffling used to be a large part of the work of loading a vessel's cargo of fish in bulk.
1cv. — Newfoundland

to gather and prepare salted cod in the curing process.

Type: 3. Semantic Change — A semantic extension of meaning 1b.
See: flake

Quotations

1916
He called the boy, Billy Grant, who was with the women and girls yaffling up fish on the flake near by.
1926
The next day they put them in the store and "yaffle" them up, and the next day they are ready for the traders. Then we get money for them. We would never be able to do without fish.
1950
As we got old enough to work on the "room" at 10c. or 12c. an hour "yaffling fish", we got a huge kick out of taking up the value of our earnings in those little personal necessities which meant to us gracious living.
2001
In the summer, everything of delight occurred outside -- spreading, turning and yaffling the fish on the flakes, raking and piling hay into stacks, drawing water for the animals, and donning rubber boots for a dash to the marsh to watch and catch the frogs.
2009
If you've ever felt like a gommel for letting your butt go dunch while sitting yaffling your spanny-tickles out of a puncheon tub, then you might find Galore slightly less charming than I did. For me, though, the language was what did the trick. It's just close enough to English to make you think you should understand it, just far enough away to ensure you never quite do.
2n. — Newfoundland, in figurative use

a bundle or bunch of something; a small group (of people).

Type: 3. Semantic Change — Once yaffle had become established in the sense of an armful of cod or wood, a figurative meaning developed.

Quotations

1951
That leaves $2,000 to call his own -- which would be quite a yaffle in a place like an outport. But the worker is in New York where a dollar bill in your pocket sprouts more wings than a crab has toenails.
1964
Evening Telegram 4 May, p. 7 Get over to Lester's field and get another yaffle of dandelions.
1986
For while come-from-aways may be nish enough to think the gate ramlatch, any yaffle of baymen from the outports, where the stun breeze faffers on the ballicatters, can still fadge in the oldest and most distinctive English spoken in North America.
2004
It should be pointed out that this is altogether different from the person who don't do nothing right. That's a different yaffle of fish altogether. This person doesn't necessarily do nothing -- he or she just can't do nothing right, no matter what it is.
2010
A new search engine designed by Memorial University is aiming to make it easier for Joe Public to tap the know-how of the ivory tower. Called Yaffle, after the Newfoundland term for an armload of fish or sticks, it offers an armload of knowledge.

References