skull English · revision 7771

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1200|origins=non skalli}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈskʌl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English sculle, scolle,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998) of uncertain origin,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) probably [[bor|non|skalli|t=a bald head, skull]], a general Scandinavian word (compare Swedish skalle),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(Collins 2023) probably related to Old English scealu, husk (see [[shell]]).^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) Its early prominence in southwestern texts suggests instead a Dutch or Low German cognate,^(Etymonline) and derivation from Old French escuelle, bowl, seems unlikely.^(Etymonline) NODE compares Old Norse skoltr.^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The bony case of the brain: probably before 1200, in the ''Ancrene Riwle'';^(Barnhart 1988) about 1290 in the OED.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ An Old English word for it was hēafodbolla, and Latin cranium was glossed in Middle English as braynpanne.^(Etymonline) The crown of the head, the scalp, is an obsolete sense of about 1380.^(OED 1989) The head as the seat of thought is from 1523.^(OED 1989) In Oxford slang the head of a college or hall was a skull from 1721.^(OED 1989) A representation of a skull as an emblem of death is from 1826.^(OED 1989) ''Skullcap'' is from 1682.^(Barnhart 1988) ''Out of one's skull'', crazy or intoxicated, is slang from 1967.^(OED 1989)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1200 – sculle.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1523 – the head as the mind.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1682 – skullcap.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1826 – an emblem of death.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1967 – out of one's skull.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The bony framework of the head, enclosing the [[brain]]; the [[cranium]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(informal)'' The head as the seat of thought.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A picture of a skull as a symbol of death or danger; a death's-head.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[skulled]]

+ * [[skull-less]]

+ * [[skull-like]]

+ * [[skullcap]]

+ * [[numskull]]

+ * [[numbskull]]

+ * [[skull session]]

+ * [[skull and crossbones]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[shell]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}