sceotan

Forms

sċēotan (strong class 2; third-person singular present sċīett, past singular sċēat, past plural sċuton)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *skeutan, from Proto-Germanic *skeutaną (“to shoot, dash”).^[1][2] The strong verb is found in Old Norse skjóta, Old Frisian skiāta, Old Saxon skiotan and Old High German skiozan.^[2][3]

Its source outside Germanic is unclear.^[2] Holthausen compares Old Church Slavonic искыдати (iskydati, “to throw out”) and Lithuanian skudrùs (“quick”), and Köbler a root *skeud- “to throw, shoot”, with a question mark.^[4][5] Orel connects Albanian hedh (“to throw”).^[3] Kroonen doubts the usual link with Sanskrit and takes the strong verb as back-formed from an iterative *skut(t)ōn-, perhaps from a root seen in Lithuanian skàsti (“to jump”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is the Tollemache manuscript of the Old English Orosius, of the first or second quarter of the tenth century, which uses the verb of the Mediterranean: þær sciet se Wendelsæ up of þæm garsecge “there the Mediterranean runs up out of the ocean”.^[6][7] The same text has the sense “to shoot”, oþ hiene an cwene sceat þurh þæt þeoh “until a woman shot him through the thigh”.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller order the senses from shooting a missile and hitting with one, through pushing a thing quickly (a bolt, the first furrow), to moving quickly oneself: rushing, flowing, and, of roads, streams and hedges in charter bounds, running in a direction.^[8][9][10] A boundary of King Edgar's charter of 962 for Chelsworth, which survives in its original, runs to where two streams sceotað togædere “run together”.^[11][7] In legal use it means to pay as a contribution and to refer a judgement to someone.^[12][13] Beowulf has it of an archer shooting from his bow.^[14]

It lived on as Middle English scheten, now English shoot.^[15]

Timeline

• s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – sciet “runs” of the Mediterranean, and sceat “shot” of a wound, in the Old English Orosius.^[6][7]
• 962 – sceotað togædere “run together” of two streams in the bounds of Edgar's charter for Chelsworth, in a contemporary original.^[11][7]
• s. x ex. – gif crist scute þa adun “if Christ had thrown himself down” in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I.^[16][7]
• s. x/xi – of flānbogan “from an arrow-bow” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[17][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. to shoot, hurl a missile; to hit with a missile.^[8][13]
2. to push, thrust, move a thing quickly.^[8]
3. to move quickly, rush, flow; to run (of roads and streams).^[8][13]
4. to contribute, pay.^[12][13]
5. to refer a case to a person or court.^[12][13]

Word family

• āsċēotan
• ōþsċēotan
• þurhsċēotan
• onsċēotan
• tōsċēotan

Descendants

• Middle English scheten (→ English shoot; Middle Scots schote; Middle Scots schuit)^[1]

Related words

• sċot
• sċyte
• sċytta
• sċyttels

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 445
3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 339
4. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 276
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. scéotan
6. ^ a b c Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 249
7. ^ a b c d e f Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
8. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 829
9. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 696
10. ^ LangScape: The Language of Landscape: Reading the Anglo-Saxon Countryside, King's College London, langscape.org.uk
11. ^ a b The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, revised ed. by S. E. Kelly and R. Rushforth, King's College London / University of Cambridge, esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk, p. S 703
12. ^ a b c Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 190
13. ^ a b c d e Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 169
14. ^ Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. scēotan
15. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
16. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 407
17. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 344