Etymology

shire

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Today it means: An administrative area or district between about the 5th to the 11th century, subdivided into hundreds or wapentakes and jointly governed by an ealdorman and a sheriff; also, a present-day area corresponding to such a historical district; a county; especially (England), a county having a name ending in -shire. Full definition →

Middle English schire ← Old English sċīr ← Proto-West Germanic *skīru
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shire · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*kʷeys-“to heed; to see”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*skīru“district; status of an official, office”
  3. Old English · inherited fromsċīr“administrative region under an alderman and sheriff, shire; district under a governor or official; status of an official, office”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromschire“region, shire, county”
  5. English todayshire

The noun is derived from Middle English schire (“region, shire, county”) [and other forms], from Old English sċīr (“administrative region under an alderman and sheriff, shire; district under a governor or official; status of an official, office”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *skīru (“district; status of an official, office”); further etymology uncertain, possibly related to Latin cūra (“care, concern; administration, charge, management; command, office”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeys- (“to heed; to see”). The verb is derived from the noun.

Shire · proper noun, noun2

English and Irish surname, from shire.

Words from the same roots

Old Englishsċīr all →

sheerShirley

Proto-Indo-European*kʷeys- all →

scour

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.