shoal

shoal · adjective, noun, verb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(s)kelh₁-“to dry out”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*skalidaz
3. Old English · inherited fromsċeald“shallow”
4. Middle English · inherited fromschold
5. English todayshoal

From Middle English schold, scholde, from Old English sċeald (“shallow”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *skalidaz, past participle of *skaljaną (“to go dry, dry up, become shallow”), from *skalaz (“parched, shallow”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelh₁- (“to dry out”). Cognate with Low German Scholl (“shallow water”), German schal (“stale, flat, vapid”). Compare shallow.

shoal · noun, verb²

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(s)kelH-“to divide, split, separate”
2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*skolu
3. Old English · inherited fromsċeolu
4. English todayshoal

1570, presumably from Middle English *schole (“school of fish”), from Old English sċeolu, sċolu (“troop or band of people, host, multitude, division of army, school of fish”), from Proto-West Germanic *skolu, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to divide, split, separate”). Cognate with West Frisian skoal (“shoal”), Middle Low German schōle (“multitude, troop”), Dutch school (“shoal of fishes”). Doublet of school.

Words from the same roots