FUN fact: The English word shark, is originally Dutch, schurk.
Early Dutch and Zeeland fishermen encountered the beast on the ocean, and discovered to their detriment what a scoundrel it was. Sharks ate their way through their caught fish, and if a whale was hooked, they would take big bites out of it. A predatory crook, they said, or in Dutch: schurk.
English fishermen adopted the word, as so often in maritime lingo in the days when Holland was master of the seven seas. Dutch zee became English sea, zand became sand, water remained water, dam remained dam, schip became ship, vis became fish, gras became grass, dok became dock, lek became leak, dek became deck, sloep became sloop, kiel became keel, and so schurk became shark.
Arguably, the only two words the English never adopted are Scheveningen and Enschede.
