ship

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʃɪp/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English schip, ship,^[2][3] inherited from Old English sċip (“ship, boat, vessel”),^[4][2] from Proto-Germanic *skipą,^[4][2] the source also of Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Old Norse and Gothic skip, Dutch schip, Old High German scif and German Schiff.^[2][4] The further origin is obscure:^[4][5] since Pokorny it has been derived from Proto-Indo-European *skei- (“to cut, split”), perhaps as a hollowed-out tree,^[4][2] but the semantic connection is unclear,^[4] and Boutkan finds no certain Indo-European etymology.^[4] The verb is from late Old English scipian, from the noun.^[6][2] French esquif and Italian schifo, the sources of skiff, are Germanic loanwords.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A large seagoing vessel: Old English scip, about 725;^[7] Barnhart dates it before 800.^[2] The verb gescipian, “to provide with ships”, is from about 900.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The Old English word was used for small craft as well, and the definition changed over time;^[4] in the 19th century a ship was distinguished from a boat by having a bowsprit and three masts.^[4] Ships have been personified as feminine since at least the late 14th century, though in the 17th and 18th centuries masculine pronouns were more common.^[4][7] The verb, “to send or transport by ship, to board a ship”, is from about 1300,^[4] and was transferred to other means of transport, such as the railroad, by 1857 in American English.^[4] Ship of fools is after Sebastian Brant's satire Das Narrenschiff.^[7] The southern constellation Argo was called the Ship by the 1590s.^[4] When one's ship comes in, “when one's fortune is made”, is from the mid-19th century.^[8] Ship out, “to depart”, is American military use by 1948.^[4] Shipshape is from the 18th century, from ship-shapen “arranged in ship fashion”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English scip.^[7]
• c. 900 – verb, to provide with ships.^[2]
• c. 1300 – verb, to transport by ship.^[4]
• late 14th century – ships personified as feminine.^[4]
• 1590s – the constellation.^[4]
• 1857 – to send by rail.^[4]
• 1948 – ship out.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A large vessel for travelling on the sea.
2. A sailing vessel with a bowsprit and three or more square-rigged masts.
3. An aircraft or spacecraft.
4. The crew of a ship.

Verb

1. To send or transport, by ship or other means.
2. To put or take on board a ship.
3. To take in water over the side.
4. To hire for work on a ship.

Word family

• shippable
• shipless
• shiplessly
• shipping
• unship
• reship
• shipment
• shipper

Related words

• skiff
• skipper
• shipshape
• shipwreck
• -ship

Usage notes

The suffix -ship, as in friendship, is a different word, from Old English -sciepe.^[9][10]

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 f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.