scir

scir¹ office, district, shire

Pronunciation

• /ʃiːr/^[1]

Forms

sċīr f (strong ō-stem; genitive singular sċīre, nominative plural sċīra)^[1] Also spelled sċȳr, and sciir in a gloss.^[2][3]

Etymology

The noun for an office or district is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *skīru (“office, district”).^[1] Wiktionary takes it to be probably related to the adjective Proto-Germanic *skīriz (“pure, clear”), and Orel too derives a Proto-Germanic *skīrō from that adjective, setting the noun beside Old High German scīra (“business, office”).^[4][1] Holthausen leaves the noun of unknown origin while comparing the same Old High German word, and Köbler gives it either as unexplained or as coming from that form, which he glosses “care” and marks as doubtful.^[5][2] Wiktionary also records a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to divide”) as an alternative view.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in the Corpus Glossary, written in the first half of the ninth century, where scir renders Latin “dispensatio”, the management of an office.^[6][7] Bosworth and Toller quote the same gloss among the records of the sense “office, charge”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller put the senses in this order: an office, charge or administration, also that of an English official who could lose his scīr; then the district under an official, a province or, in the church, a diocese or parish; the people of such a district; and finally the English shire, the unit in which the scīrġemōt met under the bishop and the ealdorman.^[3][8] In the Pastoral Care it is the office of a ruler or a bishop, and in the Orosius both the office an ealdorman is stripped of and Ohthere's district of Hálgoland.^[3] The laws use it for the jurisdiction or district of an official from Alfred and Ine on.^[9] In the glosses it renders Latin “procuratio”, “dispensatio”, “negotium”, “provincia” and “parrochia”.^[2][3]

The word lived on as English shire, which in time gave way to the Anglo-French word for a county.^[10]

Timeline

• s. ix¹ – scir glossing Latin “dispensatio” in the Corpus Glossary.^[6][7]
• s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – sio scir hatte Halgoland, Ohthere's district, in the Old English Orosius (Tollemache manuscript).^[11][7][3]
• 990×992 – a dispute settled at the shire meeting, in a record that survives in a contemporary copy (charter S 1454).^[12][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. an office, charge or administration; the office of an official.^[3][2]
2. a district or province; in the church a diocese or parish.^[3][2]
3. the people of a district, a tribe.^[3]
4. (law) a shire, with its bishop, ealdorman and court.^[3][9]

Word family

• sċīrġerēfa
• sċīrmann
• sċīrġemōt
• mynstersċīr
• burhsċīr
• weoroldsċīr
• mǣġsċīr

Descendants

• Middle English schire (→ English shire; Scots shire)^[1]

scir² bright, shining

Pronunciation

• /ʃiːr/^[1]

Forms

sċīr^[1] Épinal Glossary sciir.^[13][7]

Etymology

The adjective meaning bright is inherited from Proto-Germanic *skīriz (“pure, clear, sheer”).^[1][14] The same adjective is Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍂𐍃 (skeirs, “clear”), Old Norse skírr (“clear, bright, pure”), Old Frisian skīre, Old Saxon skīr (“clear, unmixed”) and Old High German skīri (“pure, clear, brilliant”).^[4][5][14] Orel matches it with Albanian hir (“grace, favour”) and Proto-Slavic *ščirъ (“clean, true”), and takes it as probably related to Proto-Germanic *skīnaną (“to shine”).^[4] Wiktionary and Holthausen also connect it with sċīnan, and Wiktionary traces the adjective to Proto-Indo-European *sḱeyr- (“luster, gloss”).^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest English glossary has it: the Épinal Glossary, of the late seventh or about 700, glosses Latin “sublustris”, dimly lit, with sciir.^[13][7][3] In the Vespasian Psalter gloss of the mid-ninth century it describes pure wine, scires wines for Latin “uini meri” (Psalm 74).^[15][7]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller divide the senses into the brightness of living beings, God, Christ, the heavenly host or the phoenix, and that of things: metal, armour and gold, clear glass, clear water, pure unmixed wine, light and the sun.^[3] Toller adds a moral sense, pure, in the Exeter Maxims.^[8] The word is frequent in poetry: Klaeber glosses it bright, resplendent, glorious, clear, and Beowulf has scīr metod and scīr wered, clear drink.^[16][3] Köbler lists the Latin “merus” and “sublustris” among the words it glosses.^[14]

From late Old English scīr comes English sheer, possibly influenced by the Old Norse adjective.^[10]

Timeline

• s. vii ex. or vii/viii – sciir for Latin “sublustris” in the Épinal Glossary.^[13][7]
• s. ix med. – scires wines for “uini meri” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[15][7]
• s. x med. – scir win, clear wine, in the Old English Boethius.^[17][7]
• s. x/xi – scīr metod in the Beowulf manuscript.^[18][16]

Meanings

Adjective

1. bright, resplendent, glorious, of living beings.^[3][16]
2. bright, glittering, of metal, gold and armour; white, of ripe grain.^[3]
3. clear, transparent, of glass and water.^[3][19]
4. pure, unmixed, of wine.^[3][19]
5. morally pure.^[8]

Descendants

• Middle English schyre (→ English shire; English sheer; Scots schyre)^[1]