shield

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʃiːld/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English scheld, shild, inherited from Old English scield (“shield; protector”), also sceld, scild,^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *skelduz,^[3][5] which is also the source of Old Saxon skild, Dutch schild, Old High German scilt (German Schild), Old Norse skjǫldr and Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌹𐌻𐌳𐌿𐍃 (skildus).^[2][5][3] It probably first meant a board, from a base *skel- (“to divide, split”),^[5][6][3] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *(s)kel- (“to cut”),^[3] and is related to shell.^[2][4] Boutkan, quoted by Etymonline, thinks it rather meant a means of protection, a separation.^[3] The verb is Old English scildan (“to protect”).^[4][5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The defensive armour carried on the arm: about 725 in Beowulf in Barnhart,^[2] about 825 in the OED.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Something that defends against attack or injury, a protector, is in Old English, and God as a shield, a biblical use after the Psalms, from 971.^[7][3] Under shield, in battle, is from before 1300,^[7] and in Middle English shield could also mean government or rule (1338).^[7] The shield-shaped field bearing a coat of arms is the heraldic sense,^[8][9] and two sides of a shield, two ways of looking at a question, is from about 1855.^[7] Protective devices of many kinds, such as a screen on a machine or the shield of a tunnelling machine, are later.^[9][8] In north-country dialect a shield-bone was a shoulder blade.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English scield, in Beowulf.^[2]
• 971 – God as a shield.^[7]
• before 1300 – under shield, in battle.^[7]
• 1338 – rule, government (obsolete).^[7]
• c. 1855 – two sides of a shield.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A broad piece of armour carried on the arm or in the hand for protection against blows and missiles.
2. A person or thing that protects.
3. A protective plate or screen, as on a machine or against radiation.
4. (heraldry) A shield-shaped escutcheon bearing a coat of arms.
5. A badge, as of a police officer, or a shield-shaped trophy.

Verb

1. To protect or defend, as with a shield.
2. To cover up or conceal.

Word family

• shielder
• shieldless
• shieldlessly
• shieldlessness
• shieldlike
• windshield
• dress shield
• heat shield

Related words

• shell
• scale
• shelter
• shelduck

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
10. ^ 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)