shield

shield · noun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(s)kelH-“cut, split”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*skelduz“shield”
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*skeldu
4. Old English · inherited fromscield“shield”
5. Middle English · inherited fromscheld
6. English todayshield

From Middle English scheld, shelde, from Old English scield (“shield”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeldu, from Proto-Germanic *skelduz (“shield”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“cut, split”). Cognates Cognate with West Frisian skyld (“shield”), Bavarian Schuid (“shield”), Dutch schild (“shield”), German and Low German Schild (“shield”), Luxembourgish Schëld (“shield”), Yiddish שילד (shild, “shield”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk skjold (“shield”), Elfdalian stjöld (“shield”), Faroese skjøldur (“shield”), Gutnish skiåld (“shield”), Icelandic skjöldur (“shield”), Swedish sköld (“shield”), Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌹𐌻𐌳𐌿𐍃 (skildus, “shield”). Compare Breton skoed (“shield”), Irish sciath (“shield”), Scottish Gaelic sgiath (“shield”), Latin scūtum (“shield”), Latgalian škīda (“shield”), Lithuanian skydas (“shield”), Belarusian шчыт (ščyt, “shield”), Bulgarian, Russian, and Ukrainian щит (ščyt, “shield”), Czech and Slovak štít (“shield”), Macedonian штит (štit, “shield”), Polish szczyt (“shield”), Serbo-Croatian штит, štit, ščit (“shield”), Slovene ščit (“shield”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to dissect, split”).

shield · verb²

1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*skildijaną
2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*skildijan
3. Old English · inherited fromsċildan
4. Middle English · inherited fromschilden
5. English todayshield

An alteration of Middle English schilden after Etymology 1, from Old English sċildan, from Proto-West Germanic *skildijan, form Proto-Germanic *skildijaną.

Words from the same roots