Etymologically
Log in

Schilling

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 20:27. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /ˈʃɪlɪŋ/[1]

Forms

Schilling m (genitive Schillings, plural Schilling or Schillinge)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German schillinc, inherited from Old High German skilling, inherited from Proto-Germanic *skillingaz.[2][3][1][4] The same word is Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌹𐌻𐌻𐌹𐌲𐌲𐍃 (skilliggs), Old Norse skillingr, Old English scilling, Old Saxon skilling, Middle Low German schillinc and Old Frisian skilling, and today English shilling, Dutch schelling and Swedish skilling.[2][3] It was first the name of the East Roman gold coin, the Latin solidus.[3][5]

Its origin is not clear.[2][3][6] It is formed with the suffix -ling, and is often traced to Proto-Germanic *skildulingaz (“something like a shield”), from Schild: Pfeifer mentions the view that it translates Latin clipeolum (“small shield, medallion”), since the Germanic peoples wore shield-like coins as ornaments, with the parallels Old French escu (“shield, coin”) and Spanish escudo from scūtum (“shield”);[3][6] Paul and Wahrig connect it with Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌹𐌻𐌳𐌿𐍃 (skildus, “shield”).[5][7] Kluge objects that the sound changes are doubtful.[2] Others attach it to Proto-Indo-European *(s)kel- (“to cut”), as a piece cut from a gold or silver bar.[3][8] Brøndal derived it from a diminutive of Latin siliqua, the name of a small coin weight, which Kluge finds convincing in substance but adventurous in its sound changes.[2] Jacob Grimm connected it with schallen and schellen, “to ring”.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German skilling appears in glosses from the end of the 8th century and in the Lex Salica fragment, for Latin solidus, aureus and argenteus.[8][10][4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle High German the schillinc was a coin worth twelve pfennigs; in Early New High German it was a coin of forty, thirty or twelve pfennigs, a count of thirty or twelve, and also a beating of thirty or twelve strokes.[4][3] Czech šilink and Slovak šiling “public flogging” were taken from that last sense.[11] The coin gradually lost value and fell out of use, but survived as a unit of currency in England and Austria.[5] Adelung records it as a money of account in Aachen and on the Lower Rhine.[12]

The Austrian National Council chose Schilling as the name of the currency, which lasted until the euro.[2][7] Hungarian silling and English schilling (1753) were taken from German.[11]

Timeline

  • Late 8th century – Old High German skilling in glosses.[8][2]
  • 1060–1080 – Middle High German schillinc in the Vienna Genesis.[13]
  • 1279 – schillinc in charters, with many later records.[13]
  • 1753 – English schilling is recorded.[11]
  • 1925 – The schilling is introduced as the Austrian currency, on 1 March according to the German Wiktionary;[14] Kluge gives 1923 as the start.[2]
  • 2001 – The Austrian schilling is replaced by the euro.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The former currency unit of Austria, divided into 100 Groschen.[15][1]
  2. An old European coin.[15][14]
  3. A shilling.[15][1]
  • Schild
  • English shilling

Usage notes

After a number the plural is usually Schilling: dreißig Schilling.[15]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 805
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  4. ^ a b c Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 8, 122
  5. ^ a b c Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  6. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 735
  7. ^ a b Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  9. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 15, 149
  10. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 289
  11. ^ a b c Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
  12. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
  13. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  14. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
  15. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag