Etymology

sheath

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Today it means: A holster for a sword; a scabbard. Full definition →

Middle English sheth ← Old English sċēaþ ← Proto-West Germanic *skaiþiju
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sheath · noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*skey-“to dissect, split”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*skaiþiz“sheath; covering”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*skaiþiju
  4. Old English · inherited fromsċēaþ“sheath”
  5. Middle English · inherited fromsheth
  6. English todaysheath

From Middle English sheth, shethe (“holder for a sword, knife, etc., scabbard, sheath”) [and other forms], from Old English sċēaþ (“sheath”), from Proto-West Germanic *skaiþiju, from Proto-Germanic *skaiþiz (“sheath; covering”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to dissect, split”) (possibly from the notion of a split stick with a sword inserted). The English word is cognate with Danish skede, Dutch schede, Icelandic skeið, German Scheide, Low German scheed, Norwegian skjede.

sheath · verb2

A variant of sheathe.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishsheth all →

sheathe

Old Englishsċēaþ all →

sheathe

Proto-West Germanic*skaiþiju all →

sheathe

Proto-Germanic*skaiþiz all →

sheathe

Proto-Indo-European*skey- all →

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Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.