Etymologically
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shuttle

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈʃʌt.əl/, US /ˈʃʌt̬.əl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English shittle, inherited from Old English scytel (“dart, arrow”),[2][3][4][5][6] from Proto-Germanic *skutilaz,[2][3][4] cognate with Old Norse skutill (“harpoon”),[2][3][4][7] related to scēotan (“to shoot”) (see shoot),[2][4][5] from Proto-Indo-European *skeud- (“to shoot, chase, throw”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A dart or missile, in Old English: about 875.[8][2]

Semantic evolution

The weaver's instrument, “shot” across the threads, is from 1338.[2][8][3] The shuttlecock is a shuttle from about 1440.[8] Thread-carriers in netting and sewing machines followed (1767, 1846).[8] A train running back and forth over a short route is from 1895,[2][3] air services from 1942, and the space shuttle by 1969.[3][8] The verb, to move to and fro, is from the 1540s, and to carry by a shuttle service from 1930.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 875 – a dart.[8]
  • 1338 – a weaver's shuttle.[2][8]
  • 1540s – to shuttle (verb).[3]
  • 1895 – a shuttle train.[2][3]
  • 1942 – a shuttle air service.[3]
  • by 1969 – the space shuttle.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A device in weaving that carries the weft thread between the warp threads.
  2. A bobbin-like device holding the thread in a sewing machine or in tatting.
  3. A bus, train or aircraft running frequently between two places.
  4. A space shuttle.

Verb

  1. To move or travel back and forth.
  2. To carry by or as if by a shuttle.

Word family

  • shuttler
  • shuttleless
  • shuttlelike
  • shuttlecock
  • shuttlecraft
  • shuttle diplomacy

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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press