Etymologically
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sky

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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
  • 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)