scyttan

Forms

sċyttan (weak class 1; third-person singular present sċytt, past singular sċytte, past plural sċytton)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *skuttjan, from Proto-Germanic *skutjaną (“to shut”), a verb made from the noun *skuttą (“bar, bolt”).^[1][2] Its nearest relatives are Old Frisian sketta (“to shut in, dam up”), Middle Low German schütten and Middle High German schützen, and Etymonline adds Middle Dutch schutten (“to shut up, obstruct”).^[3][4][5]

Holthausen and Köbler connect it with sċēot and scot, and Nerthus derives it from the strong verb sċēotan “to shoot”: shutting was the shooting of a bolt.^[3][4][6][7] Wiktionary traces the root to Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewd- (“to drive, rush”), while Köbler gives a doubtful Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱew- (“to throw, shoot”), after Pokorny.^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest dated record is the will of Ælfric, bishop of Elmham (1023×1038), which survives in a contemporary manuscript: mid þan laue scytte man mina borgas “with the remainder my debts shall be paid off”.^[8][9][7]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller start from the sense “cause rapid movement, shoot a bolt”, and so “shut”; Ælfric's Grammar renders Latin sero “I bolt” with Ic scytte sum loc.^[7] The simple verb is rare, and Clark Hall notes that the compound forsċyttan is the usual form.^[10] The second sense, to discharge or pay off a debt, is the only one Sweet gives.^[11][7]

The verb lived on as Middle English schitten, which meant to close and fasten a door or gate, and it survives as English shut.^[5]

Timeline

• 1023×1038 – scytte man mina borgas “my debts shall be paid off” in the will of Bishop Ælfric, in a contemporary manuscript.^[8][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. to shoot a bolt, to bolt, shut.^[7][10]
2. to discharge or pay off a debt.^[7][11]

Word family

• forsċyttan
• unsċyttan

Descendants

• Middle English schitten (→ English shut; Middle Scots schet; Middle Scots schute)^[1]

Related words

• sċēotan
• scot

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
3. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 286
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. scyttan
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Nerthus: An Online Lexical Database of Old English, Universidad de La Rioja, nerthusproject.com (derivational paradigms, via the Nerthus Project's open data), p. s.v. scyttan
7. ^ a b c d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 848
8. ^ 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 1489
9. ^ a b Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
10. ^ a b Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 299
11. ^ a b Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 172