Editing Shark (section)

==Etymology==
Until the 16th century,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=shark&searchmode=none |title=Online Etymology Dictionary |publisher=Etymonline.com |access-date=2013-09-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004040523/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=shark&searchmode=none |archive-date=2012-10-04 |url-status=live }}</ref> sharks were known to mariners as "sea dogs".<ref>{{cite book
|title=The History of Underwater Exploration
|last=Marx
|first=Robert F.
|year=1990
|publisher=Courier Dover Publications
|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofunderwa00marx/page/3 3]
|isbn=978-0-486-26487-5
|url-access=registration
|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofunderwa00marx/page/3
}}</ref> This is still evidential in several species termed "[[Squalidae|dogfish]]", or the [[porbeagle]].

The etymology of the word ''shark'' is uncertain. The most likely etymology states that the original sense of the word was that of "predator, one who preys on others" from the [[Dutch language|Dutch]] {{lang|nl|schurk}}, meaning 'villain, scoundrel' ([[cf.]] ''[[card shark]]'', ''[[loan shark]]'', etc.), which was later applied to the fish due to its predatory behaviour.<ref>Online Etymology Dictionary, shark.</ref>

A now disproven{{Original research inline|date=August 2020}} theory is that it derives from the [[Yucatec Maya language|Yucatec Maya]] word {{lang|yua|xook}} ({{IPA|myn|ʃoːk|pron}}), meaning 'shark'.<ref>{{cite web
| url=http://www.mesoweb.com/pari/publications/RT07/211-Xoc.html
| title=The Xoc, the Sharke, and the Sea Dogs: An Historical Encounter
| last=Jones
| first=Tom
| access-date=2009-07-11
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121044838/http://mesoweb.com/pari/publications/RT07/211-Xoc.html
| archive-date=2008-11-21
| url-status=live
}}</ref> 
Evidence for this etymology came from the [[Oxford English Dictionary]], which notes that ''shark'' first came into use after Sir [[John Hawkins (naval commander)|John Hawkins]]' sailors exhibited one in London in 1569 and posted "''sharke''" to refer to the large sharks of the [[Caribbean Sea]]. However, the [[Middle English Dictionary]] records an isolated occurrence of the word ''shark'' (referring to a sea fish) in a letter written by [[Thomas Beckington]] in 1442, which rules out a New World etymology.<ref>{{cite web|title=Shark|url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/m/mec/med-idx?type=id&id=MED39794&egs=all&egdisplay=open|work=Middle English Dictionary|publisher=University of Michigan|access-date=2014-02-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130820110832/http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/m/mec/med-idx?type=id&id=MED39794&egs=all&egdisplay=open|archive-date=2013-08-20|url-status=live}}</ref>{{Original research inline|date=August 2020}}