Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/329

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scina, ‘needle,’ points to a Goth. *skinô, f., ‘narrow piece of bone or metal.’ Of the primit. history of the cognates it can only be said, however, that by inference from AS. scîœ, sceó, ‘shin,’ the root must be skī̆. From Teut. are derived Ital. schiniera, ‘greaves for a horse,’ and probably also Ital. schiena, Fr. échine, ‘spine,’ with their Rom. cognates.

Schiene, f., see Schienbein.

schier, adj., ‘clear, pure, simple, sheer,’ from MidHG. (MidG.) schîr, ‘mere, pure, glittering’; comp. OSax. skîr, skîri, AS. scîr, ‘pure, glittering,’ E. shere, sheer, OIc. skírr, Goth. skeirs, ‘clear, manifest’; a derivative of the root skî, ‘to shine, glitter.’ In ModHG. this adj. has been confused in sound with the following adv., yet the ModHG. form may be also of LG. origin. See scheinen.

schier, adv., ‘almost,’ from MidHG. schiere, adv., ‘quickly, soon,’ OHG. sciaro, older skêro, adv., ‘quickly’; allied to OHG. sciari, scêri, adj., ‘sagacious, zealous in tracing out’; comp. Du. schier, ‘almost’ (OIc. skýrr, skœ́rr, ‘bright, clear’).

Schier, n., ‘lawn, veil,’ ModHG. only, borrowed from LG.; prop. the neut. of the adj. schier.

Schierling, m., ‘hemlock,’ from the equiv. MidHG. schirlinc, schęrlinc (gen. -ges), OHG. scęriling; comp. Du. scheerling. Derived, like the variants MidHG. schęrninc, OHG. and OLG. scęrning, ‘hemlock,’ from the equiv. OHG. scarno, m.; the l of the OHG., MidHG., and ModHG. forms is due to the current G. suffix -ling. The term is unknown to the other OTeut. dials. (in AS. hymlic, hemleác occur, E. hemlock).

schießen, vb., ‘to shoot,’ from the equiv. MidHG. schieȥen, OHG. scioȥan; the corresponding vb. occurs in the same sense in all the OTeut. dials.; comp. OSax. skeotan (Du. schieten), AS. sčeótan (E. to shoot), OIc. skjóta, Goth. (by chance not recorded) *skiutan. The root skut, ‘to shoot,’ from pre-Teut. skud, is widely diffused in Teut., and corresponds to the Sans. root kšud, ‘to shatter, excite,’ or better with Sans. skund, ‘to leap forth.’ For derivatives see Schoß, Schuß, Schutz, and Schütze.

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.

Schild (1.), m., ‘shield, coat of arms,’ from the equiv. MidHG. schilt, OHG. scilt, m.; a common Teut. term; comp. Goth. skildus, m., OIc. skjǫldr, AS. scyld, E. shield, Du. schild, OSax. scild. The word first signified ‘signboard’ in early ModHG. The specifically Teut. term skildu-s (from skeldhus, skeltús?) cannot be traced farther back; it can scarcely be related to schallen (Schild, lit. ‘that which gives a loud sound or resounds’?).

Schild (2.), n., ‘signboard,’ ModHG. only, a variant of the foregoing; hence Schilder- (neut. stem) in compounds such as Schilderhaus, ‘sentry-box.’

schildern, vb., ‘to paint, depict, describe,’ allied to MidHG. schilt, ‘coat of arms’; comp. MidHG. schiltœre, m., ‘artist’; the shields were orig. painted in the MidHG. age of chivalry with coats of arms, and even, according to Tacitus, Germ. vi. (“scuta lectissimis coloribus distinguunt”), in the OTeut. heroic period. Comp. Du. schilderen, ‘to paint, depict, describe.’

Schildpatt, n., ‘tortoise-shell,’ ModHG. only, from LG. and Du. schildpad, ‘tortoise’ and ‘tortoise-shell.’ The early history of Du. padde, ‘toad,’ E. puddock and OIc. padda, ‘toad,’ is obscure.

Schilf, n., ‘rush, bulrush, reed,’ from the equiv. MidHG. schilf, OHG. sciluf (m. and n.?); unknown to the other Teut. dials.; perhaps it is an early loan-word from Lat. scirpus, ‘rush,’ to which it cannot be primit. allied. Others, regarding Schilf as a genuine Teut. word, connect it with OHG. sceliva, MidHG. schelfe, ‘bowl of fruit and pulse.’