skinn

Forms

skinn n (strong a-stem)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *skinþą (“skin, hide”).^[2][1] Within Germanic it has close relatives in Middle Low German schin (“a Russian fur money”) and in German dialect words for fruit peel and bark, and stands beside the verb Old High German scintan (“to flay, peel”).^[3][4]

Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon and Torp trace it to the root Proto-Indo-European *sken- (“to peel, cut off”), and compare a Breton word for “scale, dandruff”.^[3][4]

Cleasby and Vigfússon thought it a word known only in Scandinavian.^[5] The rare Old English scinn (“fur”), the Middle Low German word and English skin are held to be loans from Old Norse.^[6][4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

IcePaHC's earliest text, the Icelandic Homily Book, which it dates to 1150, has skinn;^[8][9] Larsson lists the word among the forms of the oldest Icelandic manuscripts.^[8][9] Menota dates its first instances to 1200–1225, in the manuscripts AM 619 4to and AM 677 4to.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

The word names both the living skin of a person and the hide flayed from an animal;^[12][5] Norwegian law distinguishes húð af nauti, skinn af sauði “a hide from cattle, a skin from sheep”.^[12][5] In the plural it is fur and furred clothing, as in grá skinn “grey squirrel fur” and hvít skinn “ermine”, an important article of trade.^[13][14] In compounds it can be a term of abuse for people (kvennskinn), and skinna “a parchment book” names manuscripts such as Morkinskinna.^[15][16]

The word continues as Icelandic, Faroese and Swedish skinn and Danish skind.^[3] The English word skin is recorded from about 1200 in the sense “animal hide”, and as the outer layer of a living body from the early fourteenth century.^[7]

Timeline

• 1150 – skinn in the Icelandic Homily Book, by IcePaHC's dating.^[8]
• 1200–1225 – ſkin in AM 619 4to and skinni in AM 677 4to.^[10][11]
• 1270–1280 – skinn in the Konungs skuggsjá manuscript AM 243 bα fol.^[17]
• 1305 – skínnum in a Norwegian charter, DN 5:46.^[18]
• c. 1200 – the English word skin “animal hide”, from the Norse word.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. the skin of a person.^[13][12]
2. the hide of an animal, especially a smaller animal such as a sheep.^[13][14]
3. (plural) fur, furs, a furred cloak.^[13][5]

Word family

• skinnfeldr
• skinnkyrtill
• sauðskinn
• gráskinn
• hvítskinn
• nautskinn
• skinnari

Descendants

• Icelandic skinn^[3]
• Faroese skinn^[3]
• Norwegian Nynorsk skinn^[3]
• Swedish skinn^[3]
• Danish skind^[3]
• Old English scinn^[6]
• Middle English skyn, whence skin^[7]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. skinn
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. skinn
4. ^ a b c Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 449
5. ^ a b c d Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 547
6. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 279
7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Wallenberg, Joel C.; Ingason, Anton Karl; Sigurðsson, Einar Freyr; Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur, Icelandic Parsed Historical Corpus, version 0.9
9. ^ a b Larsson, Ludvig (1891), Ordförrådet i de älsta islänska handskrifterna, Lund: Ph. Lindstedt, p. 299
10. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 619 4to
11. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 677 4to
12. ^ a b c Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. skinn
13. ^ a b c d Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 553
14. ^ a b Hertzberg, Ebbe (1895), Glossarium, in Norges gamle Love indtil 1387, vol. 5, Christiania, p. 570
15. ^ Hægstad, Marius; Torp, Alf (1909), Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, Kristiania: Det norske samlaget, p. 390
16. ^ Jóhannesson, Alexander (1956), Isländisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern, p. 826
17. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 243 bα fol
18. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. DN 5:46