Etymologically
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shall

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: strong /ʃæl/, weak /ʃəl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English shal,[2][3] inherited from Old English sceal (“I owe, he owes, will have to, ought to, must”) (infinitive sculan, past tense sceolde),[4][3] from Proto-Germanic *skulaną, a preterite-present verb like can, may and will.[4][5] Its cognates include Old Saxon skal, Dutch zal, Old High German scal (German soll), Old Norse and Gothic skal.[3][5][6] The basic sense was probably “I owe”, hence “I ought”;[4][7] it is related to Old English scyld “debt, obligation, guilt” and German Schuld.[4][3] Watkins and Pokorny trace the group to Proto-Indo-European *skel- (“to be under an obligation”), with cognates in Lithuanian skolā “debt” and Old Prussian skellānts “guilty”,[4][3][8] but Boutkan finds no Indo-European etymology and suspects a north European substrate word.[4] Its past tense became should.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English sceal, “owe, ought to, must”, is found about 725 in Beowulf;[3] the Middle English spelling shal is from probably before 1200.[3]

Semantic evolution

The original senses of owing and obligation are obsolete; in Middle English the meaning shifted from obligation to include simple futurity, and shall survives only as an auxiliary.[4][5] It has no participles, imperative or infinitive.[4] The traditional rule that shall marks simple future in the first person and will in the second and third, with the roles reversed to express determination, was set out by grammarians and was never closely followed;[9] in American English will is now usual in all persons, and shall is kept mostly for questions asking for consent (Shall we go?) and for obligations in legal texts.[9][10] Shall as a noun, an utterance of the word, is from 1553.[11]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – Old English sceal, owe, must.[3]
  • before 1200 – Middle English shal.[3]
  • 1553 – noun, a saying of shall.[11]
  • 1837 – shall contrasted with will as a usage question.[11]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. (auxiliary) Used to express the future tense, especially in the first person.
  2. (auxiliary) Used to express a command, promise, requirement or obligation, especially in laws and regulations.
  3. (auxiliary) Used in questions to offer or ask for agreement: Shall I open the window?

Word family

  • shan't
  • should
  • will
  • can
  • may

Usage notes

In speech the weak form /ʃəl/ is usual; the strong form /ʃæl/ is used for emphasis and at the end of a sentence (And so you shall).[1] In Yorkshire and the Lake District shall was also a verb “to share out”, and in Shetland a noun “shell”.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  10. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)