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skil

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Etymology and origin of the Old Norse word skil

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1250–1300 Holm perg 6 fol More words from the 13th century
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH-
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Old Norse skil
English skill
From the same root
English skilled ← skil
English unskilled ← skil

Forms

skil n pl (dative skilum)[1][2]

Etymology

Cleasby and Vigfússon derive the noun from Old Norse skilja (“to separate, distinguish”),[3] and Torp sets both beside a Germanic noun from the root “to divide”.[4] De Vries gives Proto-Norse *skeli-,[5] and Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon an old s-stem Proto-Germanic *skeliz or *skelaz from the root *skel- “to divide, split”, which he prefers to a stem *skelja-.[6] The verb is from Proto-Germanic *skiljaną (“to split, divide, separate”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to cut, separate”).[7][8]

Related nouns are Old Frisian skil, Old Saxon skela (“difference”) and the Middle High German word for “difference, reason”.[5][6] The same root is in skel (“shell”) and skjǫldr (“shield”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Menota first records it in Holm perg 6 fol, dated 1250–1300, in the form skilum, and then in Norwegian manuscripts of 1260–1290, among them Me II 2 with skil and skill.[9][10] Larsson has fcıl in AM 645 4to, among the oldest Icelandic manuscripts.[11] A typical early use is of making things out in the dark: menn sá varla handa sinna skil “men could hardly make out their own hands”.[3][12]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is what tells one thing from another, the power to make out sights and words; from it came knowledge and discernment (vita skil á “to know about”).[12][1][13] A second line leads to the proper ordering of a matter: settlement, what is due, and in the laws the pleading and the account a party must give in court.[3][14][15] Weavers used it for the gap between the threads.[3][16]

It continues as Icelandic skil, Faroese and Nynorsk skil, Swedish skäl and Danish skel.[6] English skill, first “knowledge, discernment” in the early 12th century, is from the Norse noun.[17][5]

Timeline

  • early 12th century – English skill “knowledge”, from the Norse noun.[17]
  • 1250–1300 – skilum in Holm perg 6 fol.[9]
  • 1260–1270 – skil and skill in the Norwegian manuscript Me II 2.[10]
  • 1276–1300 – skil and skilum in the law manuscript Holm perg 34 4to.[18]
  • 1289 – skílum in a Norwegian charter.[19]

Meanings

Noun

  1. distinction, the power to make things out;[1][12] heyra orða skil “to make out the words”.[1][12]
  2. discernment, knowledge;[1][3] kunna skil rúna “to know how to read runes”.[1][3]
  3. adjustment, settlement, what is due;[1][13] koma e-u til skila “to put something in order, deliver it duly”.[1][13]
  4. (law) pleading, the account given in court.[1][3]
  5. (weaving) the space between the threads.[3]

Word family

  • skila
  • orðaskil
  • dagaskil
  • lǫgskil

Descendants

  • skilja
  • skel
  • skilning
  • skilnaðr

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. skil
  2. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. skil
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 545
  4. ^ Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 458
  5. ^ a b c de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 492
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. skil
  7. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  8. ^ Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. skilja
  9. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. Holm perg 6 fol
  10. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. Me II 2
  11. ^ Larsson, Ludvig (1891), Ordförrådet i de älsta islänska handskrifterna, Lund: Ph. Lindstedt, p. 298
  12. ^ a b c d Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. skil
  13. ^ a b c Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 551
  14. ^ Hertzberg, Ebbe (1895), Glossarium, in Norges gamle Love indtil 1387, vol. 5, Christiania, p. 566
  15. ^ Hægstad, Marius; Torp, Alf (1909), Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, Kristiania: Det norske samlaget, p. 389
  16. ^ Sigfús Blöndal (1920–1924), Islandsk-dansk ordbog, Reykjavík, p. 722
  17. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  18. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. Holm perg 34 4to
  19. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. DN 2:26
Cite this entry

“Skil.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/non/skil. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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