KIPPER  , properly the name by which the male

salmon is known at some period of the breeding season . At the approach of this season the male fish develops a sharp cartilaginous beak, known as the " kip," from which the name " kipper " is said to be derived . The earliest uses of the word (in Old English cypera and Middle English kypre) seem to include salmon of both sexes, and there is no certainty as to the etymology . Skeat derives it from the Old English kippian, " to spawn." The term has been applied by various writers to salmon both during and after milting; early quotations leave the precise meaning of the word obscure, but generally refer to the unwholesomeness of the fish as food during the whole breeding season . It has been usually accepted, without much direct evidence, that from the practice of rendering the breeding (i.e . " kipper ") salmon fit for food by splitting, salting and smoke-drying them, the term " kipper " is also used of other fish, particularly herrings cured in the same way . The " bloater " as distinct from the " kipper " is a herring cured whole without being split open .