Etymology

shelf

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Today it means: A flat, rigid structure, fixed at right angles to a wall or forming a part of a cabinet, desk, etc., and used to display, store, or support objects. Full definition →

Middle English schelfe ← Old English sċylfe? ← Proto-West Germanic *skilfijā
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shelf · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*(s)kelH-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*(s)kel(H)-p-
  3. Proto-Germanic*skelfō
  4. Proto-West Germanic*skelfu:
  5. Proto-West Germanic*skilfijā
  6. Old Englishsċylfe?
  7. Middle Englishschelfe
  8. English todayshelf

From Middle English schelfe, probably from Old English sċylfe, sċilfe (“shelf, ledge, deck of a ship”), from Proto-West Germanic *skilfijā, from Proto-Germanic *skelfō (“shelf, ledge, cliff”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to cut”), distantly related to sculpt, carve and shell. Cognate with Dutch schelf (“hay loft, haystack”), German Low German Schelf (“haystack”), Old Norse skjalf (“bench”).

shelf · noun2

Of obscure origin; evidently identical to Middle English shelp (“sandbar in a river”), but the sound shift is unexpected. Shelp might be from Old English scylp (“crag”) or Middle Dutch schelp-.

Words from the same roots

Old Englishsċylfe all →

Selley

Proto-Indo-European*(s)kelH- all →

shellskillshieldhaltershaleshoalsliveshalksheltron

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.