scip

Forms

sċip n (strong a-stem; genitive singular sċipes, nominative plural sċipu)^[1] Vespasian Psalter gloss: plural sceopu.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *skip, from Proto-Germanic *skipą (“ship”).^[1] The noun is found in Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌹𐍀 (skip), Old Norse skip, Old Frisian skip, Old Saxon skip and Old High German skif.^[4][5][6]

Its further origin is disputed.^[4][5] Kroonen takes it as an early loan from Latin scyphus (“drinking cup”), itself from Ancient Greek σκύφος (skúphos, “cup”), pointing to the Old High German sense “vessel”.^[4] Orel holds that it first meant “structure, framework” and connects it with Lithuanian skiẽbti (“to rip, cut”) and Latvian šķibīt (“to cut”), the ship being a framework covered with skin.^[5] Holthausen also compares the Latvian verb, and Köbler gives the root Proto-Indo-European *skeib- (“to cut”).^[6][7] Wiktionary calls the etymology uncertain and suggests a first meaning “hollowed tree”.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the mid-ninth-century gloss of the Vespasian Psalter: forðrestende sceopu ðes londes “crushing the ships of the land” over the Latin “conterens naues tharsis” of Psalm 47.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word means ship in general; the glossaries name many kinds, such as a short ship, a little ship, a horse transport and a pirate ship, with parts like the keel and the deck.^[8] It renders Latin “navis”, “navicula”, “navigium” and “puppis” in the glosses.^[7] In the laws the word appears in ċēapsċip “merchant ship”, fierdsċip “warship” and friþsċip “ship under the peace”.^[9]

It became Middle English schip, now English ship.^[10][11]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – sceopu ðes londes “ships of the land” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[2][3]
• s. ix/x – on his dagum cuomon ærest iii scipu “in his days first came three ships” in the Parker Chronicle (annal 787).^[12][3]
• s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – hy habbað swyðe lytle scypa & swyðe leohte “they have very small and very light ships”, of the Cwenas, in the Old English Orosius (Tollemache manuscript).^[13][3]
• s. x in. or xi¹ – the Angles and Saxons come to Britain on þrim myclum scypum “in three great ships” in the Old English Bede (Tanner 10).^[14][3]
• s. x/xi – the broad ship riding at anchor in the Beowulf manuscript.^[15][16][17]

Meanings

Noun

1. a ship, vessel.^[8][7][17]

Word family

• sċiphere
• sċipmann
• sċipfierd
• sċiprāp
• sċipstēora
• sċipian
• ċēapsċip

Descendants

• Middle English schip (→ English ship; Scots ship)^[1]

Usage notes

The spelling scyp is also a separate masculine noun “patch”, found in the Gospel verse about a new patch on an old garment.^[8][18] Some forms of sċēap (“sheep”) and sċipe (“condition”) are spelled like those of this word.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 329
3. ^ a b c d e f g Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
4. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 446
5. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 340
6. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 279
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. scip
8. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 834
9. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 190
10. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
11. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ 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. 83
13. ^ 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
14. ^ 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. 531
15. ^ 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
16. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 697
17. ^ a b 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. scip
18. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 285