fisc

English

Etymology

Partly from Middle French fisc and partly from its etymon, Latin fiscus (“basket, money-bag, public treasury”); see fiscal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɪsk/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪsk
• Homophone: fisk

Noun

fisc (plural fiscs)

1. (Ancient Rome) The public treasury of Rome.
2. Any state treasury or exchequer.
   • 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, page 340:

     When they had resolved to appropriate to the Fisc, a certain portion of the landed property of their conquered country, it was their business to render their bank a real fund of credit […].

   • 2026 February 3, “The End of Free Speech” (10:39 from the start), in LegalEagle‎^[1], spoken by Liz Dye, retrieved 3 February 2026:

     He did not mention that Trump is about as popular with the British public as drug-resistant syphilis and that it would be political suicide to bribe him with cash out of the public fisc.

Usage notes

Often used in the collocation "the public fisc".

Related terms

• confiscate
• confiscation
• fiscal

Translations

treasury — see also treasury

• Spanish: fisco (es) m

Anagrams

• IFSC, ICFs, fics, CIFS, SCIF, CFIs

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin fīscus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Balearic, Central, Valencia, Northwestern) [ˈfisk]

Noun

fisc m (plural fiscs or fiscos)

1. treasury, public purse

Related terms

• fiscal

Further reading

• “fisc”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin fiscus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fisk/

Noun

fisc m (plural fiscs)

1. (economics) tax authorities, fiscal administration
   1. government department of taxation

Further reading

• “fisc”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Old Dutch

Etymology

From Frankish and Proto-West Germanic *fisk, Proto-Germanic *fiskaz, from Proto-Indo-European *peysk- (“fish”).

Noun

fisc m

1. fish

Inflection

Declension of fisc (masculine a-stem noun)

case	singular	plural
nominative	fisc	fisca
accusative	fisc	fisca
genitive	fiskes	fisco
dative	fiske	fiscon

Alternative forms

• visc

Descendants

• Middle Dutch: visch, visc, vis, vesch, fisch, fisc
  • Dutch: vis, visch (before 1934)
    • Afrikaans: vis
    • Berbice Creole Dutch: fesi
    • Jersey Dutch: väśe
    • Negerhollands: visch, vesch, fes, fis, vis
      • → Virgin Islands Creole: fis (dated)
    • Skepi Creole Dutch: fesi, fisse, fiche
    • Petjo: fis
    • →? Aukan: fisi
  • Limburgish: visj, vèsj
  • West Flemish: vissch

Further reading

• “fisk”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

Old English

The word fisc is found on the early 8th century Franks Casket, one of the oldest monuments of Old English ("ᚠᛁᛋᚳ.ᚠᛚᚩᛞᚢ" or "fisc flódu") .

Alternative forms

• fix
• ᚠᛁᛋᚳ (fisc) — Runic

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-West Germanic *fisk.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fiʃ/

Noun

fisċ m (nominative plural fiscas)

1. fish
   • c. 990–1000 CE, Ælfric of Eynsham [attributed], “An Anglo-Saxon Manual of Astronomy”, in Thomas Wright, Esq., M.A., F.S.A, ed. and transl., Popular Treatises on Science Written During the Middle Ages, London: R. and J. E. Taylor (for the Historical Society of Science), published 1841, On the Year, page 7:

     Ðǣre sunnan ġēar is ꝥ hēo beyrne þone miċlan ċircul zōdiacum, ⁊ ġecume under ǣlċ þǣra twelf tācna. Ǣlċe mōnað hēo yrnð under ān þǣra tācna. Ān þǣra tācna ys ġehāten ariēs, ꝥ is ramm; ōðer taurus, ꝥ is fearr; ðridda geminī, ꝥ synd ġetwisan; fēorða cancer, ꝥ is crabba; fīfta lēo; syxta virgō, ꝥ is mǣden; seofoða lībra, þæt is pund oððe wǣġe; eahtoðe scorpius, ꝥ is þrōwend; nigoða is sagittārius, ꝥ is sċytta; tēoða ys capricornus, ꝥ is buccan horn, oððe bucca; endlyfta is aquārius, ꝥ is wætergyte, oððe þe þe wæter ġȳt; twelfte is piscēs, ꝥ synd fixas.

     A year of the sun is when she passes around the Zodiac circle and moves under each of the twelve signs. Each month runs under one of the signs. The first of the signs is called aries, that is "ram"; the second is taurus, that is "bull"; the third is gemini, that is "twins"; the fourth is cancer, that is "crab"; the fifth is lion; the sixth is virgo, that is "virgin"; the seventh is libra, that is "pound" or "scales"; eighth is scorpious, that is "scorpion"; ninth is sagittarius, that is "shooter"; tenth is capricornus, that is "he-goat's horn" or "he-goat"; eleventh is aquarius, that is "pouring water" or "one that pours water"; twelfth is pisces, that is "fishes."

Declension

Strong a-stem:

	singular	plural
nominative	fisċ	fiscas
accusative	fisċ	fiscas
genitive	fisċes	fisca
dative	fisċe	fiscum

Derived terms

• fisċere (“fisherman”)
• fiscian (“to fish”)
• fisċnett (“fishing net”)
• fisċwēr (“fishweir”)
• sċielfisċ (“shellfish”)
• *sweordfisċ (“swordfish”)

Descendants

• Middle English: fisch, fysshe, fysch, fish, fische, fis, fyshe, fissh, vish, fissk (Ormulum)
  • English: fish (see there for further descendants)
  • Scots: fish, fysch, fisch
  • Yola: wish

See also

• angol (“fishhook”)

Old Saxon

Noun

fisc m

1. alternative form of fisk

Romanian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin fiscuslbor.

French fiscbor.

Romanian fisc

Borrowed from French fisc.

Noun

fisc n (uncountable)

1. (economics) fiscal administration

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	fisc	fiscul
genitive-dative	fisc	fiscului
vocative	fiscule