Obs. Also 7 jubertas, -artus, dubartas, 8 dubartus. [mod.L. jubartēs, F. jubarte; also called Jupiter, or Jupiter-fisch (Anderson, Nachrichten von Island, Hamburg, 1748) and GIBBERT, F. gibbar in Cotgr.
As to the origin of the word, J. H. Trumbull in Fisheries & Fish. Indust. U. S. (1884), I. 29, says: ‘Rondelet … gives a figure of a “Balæna Vera” … which “the whale fishers of Saintonge call Gibbar, a Gibbero Dorso, that is, raised in a hump, on which is the fin.” From this provincial name came Gibbartas, Gubartas, Jubart, Jubartes, Jupiter, and half a dozen other corruptions, introduced first among mariners.’ (Anderson calls gibbar a Basque word.)]
A name given in 17–18th c. to species of Rorqual, Fin-whale, or Finner, esp. that found near the coast of New England. (Sometimes applied erroneously, e.g., in quot. 1701 to the Cachalot.)
It figures in various works on Natural History, from Klein 1740 to Cuvier 1836, as Balænoptera jubartes, Baleinoptère Jubarte, Rorqual Jubarte, but the name has disappeared from more recent works.
1616. Capt. Smith, Descr. New Eng., 1. We saw many [whales] … a kinde of Iubartes, and not the Whale that yeeldes Finnes and Oyle as we expected.
c. 1640. J. Smyth, Hundred of Berkeley (1885), 319. The Sturgeon, Porpoise, Thornpole, Jubertas or a yonge whale.
1663. Charter of Rhode Isl. (in U.S. Fisheries, 1884, Sect. I. 28). Itt shall bee lawefull ffor them, or any of them, having struck whale, dubertus, or other greate ffish, itt or them to pursue unto any parte of that coaste.
1671. Narborough, Jrnl., in Acc. Sev. Late Voy., I. (1694), 160. Saw many Sea Fowles … with many Jubartesses.
1682. J. Collins, Making of Salt, 83. The Dutch … have the Priviledge to Fish … for Grampusses, and Dubartas, which is a bastard kind of Whale.
1701. C. Wolley, Jrnl. New York (1860), 39. A Dubartus is a Fish of the shape of a Whale, which have teeth where the Whale has Bone.
