Obs. Also corpchun, ? corphun, copshen. [Of uncertain etymology: perh. f. corp- body: the use of les in quot. 1516 does not make it certainly French. Copshen is prob. the same word, though the spelling suggests derivation from cop head.] Name of a quality of herring: see quot. 1758.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 93. Corphun [H. P. corpchun herynge].
1512. in Rogers, Agric. & Prices, III. 322/3. Corpions 1 cade @ 4/3. Ibid. (1516), 323/2. Herrings called les corpions 1 cade @ 1/4.
1758. Binnell, Descr. Thames, 227. Fishers distinguish their Herrings into six different Sorts: As the Fat Herring … the Shotten Herring … the Copshen, which by some Accident or other has been deprived of its Head.
