shall English · revision 3308

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 725, Beowulf|origins=gem-pro *skulaną}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: strong /ʃæl/, weak /ʃəl/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|shal]],^(MW Collegiate)^(Barnhart 1988) [[inh|ang|sceal|t=I owe, he owes, will have to, ought to, must]] (infinitive sculan, past tense sceolde),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[gem-pro|*skulaną]], a preterite-present verb like [[can]], [[may]] and [[will]].^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) Its cognates include Old Saxon skal, Dutch zal, Old High German scal (German soll), Old Norse and Gothic skal.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002) The basic sense was probably “I owe”, hence “I ought”;^(Etymonline)^(COED 2004) it is related to Old English scyld “debt, obligation, guilt” and German Schuld.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) Watkins and Pokorny trace the group to [[ine-pro|*skel-|t=to be under an obligation]], with cognates in Lithuanian skolā “debt” and Old Prussian skellānts “guilty”,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2000) but Boutkan finds no Indo-European etymology and suspects a north European substrate word.^(Etymonline) Its past tense became [[should]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old English sceal, “owe, ought to, must”, is found about 725 in ''Beowulf'';^(Barnhart 1988) the Middle English spelling shal is from probably before 1200.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The original senses of owing and obligation are obsolete; in Middle English the meaning shifted from obligation to include simple futurity, and ''shall'' survives only as an auxiliary.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) It has no participles, imperative or infinitive.^(Etymonline) The traditional rule that ''shall'' marks simple future in the first person and ''will'' in the second and third, with the roles reversed to express determination, was set out by grammarians and was never closely followed;^(AHD) in American English ''will'' is now usual in all persons, and ''shall'' is kept mostly for questions asking for consent (''Shall we go?'') and for obligations in legal texts.^(AHD)^(MWU 2024) ''Shall'' as a noun, an utterance of the word, is from 1553.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 725 – Old English sceal, owe, must.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * before 1200 – Middle English shal.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1553 – noun, a saying of ''shall''.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1837 – ''shall'' contrasted with ''will'' as a usage question.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''(auxiliary)'' Used to express the [[future]] tense, especially in the first person.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # ''(auxiliary)'' Used to express a command, promise, requirement or obligation, especially in laws and regulations.^(AHD)^(MWU 2024)

+ # ''(auxiliary)'' Used in questions to offer or ask for agreement: ''Shall I open the window?''^(AHD)^(COED 2004)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[shan't]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[should]]

+ * [[will]]

+ * [[can]]

+ * [[may]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ In speech the weak form /ʃəl/ is usual; the strong form /ʃæl/ is used for emphasis and at the end of a sentence (''And so you shall'').^(Roach et al. 2011) In Yorkshire and the Lake District ''shall'' was also a verb “to share out”, and in Shetland a noun “shell”.^(Wright 1898)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}