An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Schiff

by Friedrich Kluge

Schiff, n., ‘ship,’ from the equiv. MidHG. schif, OHG. scif, scëf (gen. -ffes), n.; a common Teut. term; comp. Goth. and OIc. skip, n., AS. sčip, n., E. ship, Du. schip, OSax. scip. The OHG. word also signifies ‘vessel,’ being rendered in a gloss as equiv. to its derivative OHG. sciphî, ‘phiala’ (comp. Kahn; E. vessel in its double sense, borrowed from Fr. vaisseau, ‘vessel (a utensil), ship,’ Gr. σκαφίς, ‘bowl, skiff’). The Gr. term with σκάφος, ‘boat, ship,’ cannot be allied to the Teut. word, since the latter implies an Aryan i in the stem syllable. No certain etymological explanation can be given of Teut. skipa-; the suspicion that the word was borrowed at a primit. period may not be unfounded, for there are only a very few nautical words possessed in common by several Aryan languages (comp. Mast). From OHG. the word passed into Rom.; comp. Ital. schifo, Fr. esquif, ‘boat,’ to which is allied OFr. esquiper, ‘to equip a ship,’ with a LG. p, ModFr. équiper, ‘to equip, endow,’ which passed again into Teut.