sky

Pronunciation

• IPA: /skaɪ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English skie (“a cloud”),^[2] borrowed from Old Norse ský (“cloud”),^[2][3][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *skeujam (“cloud, cloud cover”),^[2] which is also the source of Old English scēo “cloud” and Old Saxon scio “region of the clouds”,^[2][3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keu- (“to cover, conceal”).^[2][3] It is related more distantly to Old English scūa and Old Norse skuggi “shadow”, Gothic skuggwa “mirror” and Latin obscūrus “dark”.^[3][5] It is related to obscure and hide.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A cloud: about 1200 as a surname, and the mid-13th century as skie, sci, skei,^[2] or probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle, according to Barnhart.^[3] The OED dates “a cloud” to about 1220.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The upper regions of the air, the heavens, is from about 1300;^[2][6] in this sense it replaced the native heaven.^[2] In Middle English it could still mean both cloud and heaven, as in the skies, first “the clouds”.^[2][7] Sky-high is from 1812, and the sky's the limit from 1908.^[2] The verb, to hit or throw a ball high into the air, is from 1802,^[3][2][5] and to hang a painting near the ceiling of an exhibition by 1865.^[2] Sky-writing is from 1922 and sky-diving from 1959.^[2] To skyjack an aircraft is American English from 1961.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – a cloud.^[2][3]
• c. 1300 – the heavens.^[2][6]
• 1802 – verb, to hit a ball high.^[3][5]
• 1812 – sky-high.^[2]
• 1908 – the sky's the limit.^[2]
• 1922 – sky-writing.^[2]
• 1959 – sky-diving.^[2]
• 1961 – skyjack.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The expanse of air above the earth, the upper atmosphere as seen from the ground.
2. The appearance of the sky, as regards weather: cloudy skies.
3. The heavens; the celestial regions.
4. The highest level or degree.

Verb

1. To hit or throw a ball high into the air.
2. To hang a painting high on a wall.

Word family

• skyless
• skylike

Related words

• obscure
• hide
• heaven
• skylark
• skyline
• skyscraper

Usage notes

In Shetland and Orkney a sky was a small board taking the place of the mould-board in a plough.^[8][6]

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 j k l m n o p q r s t Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ 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)