skírr

Forms

skírr (comparative skírari or skírri, superlative skírstr)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *skīriz (“pure, clear”),^[1][2] the source also of Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍂𐍃 (skeirs, “clear, plain”), Old English scīr (“bright, clear”), Old Frisian skīre, Old Saxon skīr (“clear, unmixed”) and Old High German skīri (“pure, bright”).^[2][3] Feist takes it as an “-ro-” derivative of the root of Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌴𐌹𐌽𐌰𐌽 (skeinan, “to shine”), to which Old Norse skína belongs.^[3][4] Outside Germanic, Orel and Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon compare Proto-Slavic *ščirъ (“clean, true”), and de Vries and Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon Ancient Greek σκίρον (skíron, “parasol”).^[2][5][6]

skýrr (“clear, distinct”) is a parallel formation, and skærr (“bright”) an ablaut variant.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Menota first records it in AM 619 4to, dated 1200–1225, with the forms ſkír and the superlative ſkirſt;^[7] Larsson finds the plural ſkírer and the superlative ſkírſt in the manuscript he calls H.^[8] Cleasby and Vigfússon's examples of the sense “clear, pure” include gler allra hreinst ok skírst “glass, the cleanest and clearest of all”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The adjective describes clear water, glass and sky, and pure, unmixed gold and silver;^[10][11] in a moral sense it means chaste and undefiled (skírr meydómr “pure maidenhood”).^[11] In law and saga, verða skírr is to be cleared of a charge, especially by passing an ordeal, as a woman who carries hot iron and comes out skír.^[11][10] From these senses come the verb skíra (“to cleanse; to baptize”) and the noun skírn (“baptism”).^[5][4] In the Eddic poems it is an epithet of gods, skírr Freyr and skír brúðr goða, and in the þulur it is a name for the shield.^[12][13]

The word continues as Icelandic skír and Swedish skir.^[5][4] De Vries, after Björkman, takes Middle English skire from it, and gives a Finnish loan kiira.^[6]

Timeline

• 1200–1225 – ſkír, ſkirſt in AM 619 4to.^[7]
• 1250–1300 – skíra, skírar in AM 655 XXX 4to, and skir, skirri in Holm perg 6 fol.^[14][15]
• 1260–1290 – the superlative skirasta in DG 4–7.^[16]
• 1270–1290 – skírt in AM 519 a 4to.^[17]

Meanings

Adjective

1. clear, bright, pure (of glass, water, sky, light).^[10][9]
2. unmixed, refined (of gold and silver).^[11][18]
3. chaste, undefiled.^[11][19]
4. cleared of guilt, proved innocent (by an ordeal).^[10][11][18]
5. clear, distinct (of the voice or of a proof).^[10][18]
6. (poetic) as a noun, a name for the shield.^[6][13]

Word family

• skíra
• skírborinn
• skírdagr
• skírdræpr
• skírgetinn
• skírifaðir
• skíriþórsdagr
• skírleiki
• skírleikr
• skírliga
• skírligr
• skírlífi
• skírlífr
• skírn
• skírna

Descendants

• Icelandic skír^[1]
• Faroese skírur^[1]
• Norwegian skir^[1]
• Old Swedish skīr^[1]
• Swedish skir^[1]

Related words

• skína
• skýrr
• skærr

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 341
3. ^ a b Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 256
4. ^ a b c d Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. skir
5. ^ a b c d Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. skír
6. ^ a b c de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 494
7. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 619 4to
8. ^ Larsson, Ludvig (1891), Ordförrådet i de älsta islänska handskrifterna, Lund: Ph. Lindstedt, p. 300
9. ^ a b Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 551
10. ^ a b c d e Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. skírr
11. ^ a b c d e f Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. skírr
12. ^ Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 509
13. ^ a b Faulkes, Anthony (2011), A New Introduction to Old Norse III: Glossary and Index of Names, 4th ed., London: Viking Society for Northern Research, p. s.v. skírr
14. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 655 XXX 4to
15. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. Holm perg 6 fol
16. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. DG 4–7
17. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 519 a 4to
18. ^ a b c Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 557
19. ^ Hægstad, Marius; Torp, Alf (1909), Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, Kristiania: Det norske samlaget, p. 394