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
- A large vessel for travelling on the sea.
- A sailing vessel with a bowsprit and three or more square-rigged masts.
- An aircraft or spacecraft.
- The crew of a ship.
Verb
- To send or transport, by ship or other means.
- To put or take on board a ship.
- To take in water over the side.
- 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
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ 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
- ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.