shrimp

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European*(s)ker-?
2. Proto-Indo-European*(s)kerbʰ-
3. Proto-Indo-European*skrembʰ-
4. Proto-Germanic*skrimbaną
5. Proto-Germanic*skrimpaną
6. Proto-Germanic*skrimpazder.?
7. Middle Englishschrimpe
8. English todayshrimp

From Middle English schrimpe (“shrimp, puny person”), possibly from or related to Middle Low German schrempen (“to wrinkle”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *skrimpaz (“shrivelled”), from Proto-Germanic *skrimpaną (“to shrivel”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerbʰ-. See also Middle High German schrimpf (“a scratch, minor wound”), Norwegian skramp (“thin horse, thin man”); also Old English sċrimman (“to shrink”) and scrimp, Middle High German schrimpfen (“to shrink, dry up”), Swedish skrympa (“to shrink”); also Lithuanian skrembti (“to crust over, stiffen”), and possibly Albanian shkrumb (“embers, ashes; crumble”).

Words from the same roots