*skip

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *skip "ship".^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *skipą (“ship”),^[2][3] which Kroonen cites as *skipa- and Orel as *skipan.^[3][4] Ringe and Taylor list it among the few exceptions to the lowering of *i to *e: Old English has sċip, Old Frisian and Old Saxon skip, and Old High German both skef and skif.^[2]

Morphology

A neuter a-stem.^[5][6] Ringe and Taylor reconstruct the Proto-Germanic plural *skipō, which became Proto-Northwest Germanic *skipu.^[7] Northumbrian Old English has the plural sċipo or ⟨sċiopu⟩ and Mercian the plural ⟨sċeopu⟩, while West Saxon levelled the vowel in the singular and plural ⟨sċip⟩, ⟨sċipu⟩.^[7]

Evidence

The noun is attested in Old English sċip, Old Frisian skip, Old Saxon skip and Old High German skif.^[2] Old High German has it from the third quarter of the 8th century, also in the sense "vessel".^[5] EWA leaves open whether that sense is a transfer or a loan from Latin scyphus (“cup”).^[5] Old Dutch has the word only in place names.^[5] EWA derives Italian schifo (“ship's boat”) from an unattested Lombardic *skif.^[5]

Competing analyses

Kroonen takes the Proto-Germanic word for an early loan from Latin scyphus (“drinking cup”).^[3] EWA rejects this as certainly wrong, because of the meaning and the route through Gothic that it would require; it finds no direct cognates outside Germanic, and most scholars connect the word with a root extended by a labial, perhaps related to Baltic verbs for "to cut".^[5] Orel takes the original meaning to be "structure, framework", as the derived verb shows,^[4] and Boutkan and Siebinga find no certain Indo-European etymology.^[8]

Whether Old High German spellings with ⟨ph⟩ point to a variant with a geminate *pp is disputed: Lühr takes them so, Splett does not, and EWA finds a geminate less likely, since the other Germanic languages show no trace of one in the noun.^[5]

Meanings

1. ship^[2][1]
2. vessel^[1][5]

Old High German also used the word for "raft, boat".^[5]

Derivatives

• *skipōn "to arrange, to set up; to ship, to embark", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[9] Holthausen has Old English scipian (“to embark, to equip, to man”).^[10]

Reflexes

• Old English: sċip (“ship”)^[11]
• Old Frisian: skip (“ship”)^[12]
• Old Saxon: skip (“ship”)^[6]
• Old High German: skif (“ship, raft, boat, vessel”)^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *skip
2. ^ a b c d Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 35
3. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 446
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 340
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. s.v. skif
6. ^ a b Berr, Samuel (1971), An Etymological Glossary to the Old Saxon Heliand, Berne / Frankfurt: Herbert Lang, p. 361
7. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 321
8. ^ Boutkan, Dirk; Siebinga, Sjoerd Michiel (2005), Old Frisian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 1, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. skip
9. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *skipōn
10. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. scipian
11. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. scip
12. ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. skip