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shelf [shelf 词源字典]: shelf: [14] Shelf appears to have been borrowed from Middle Low German schelf ‘shelf’. This may have come from the Germanic base *skelf- ‘split’, which also produced Old English scylfe ‘partition’, the word’s underlying meaning therefore being a ‘piece of split wood used for standing things on’. The derivative shelve dates from the 16th century.
[shelf etymology, shelf origin, 英语词源]
shell: shell: [OE] Shell goes back ultimately to the Germanic base *skal- ‘divide, separate’, which also produced English scale, scalp, school (of fish), shale, shelter, shield, shoal (of fish), skill, and skol. Its underlying meaning is hence a ‘covering that splits off or is peeled off’. Its immediate Germanic ancestor was *skaljō, which also produced Dutch schel and Norwegian skjæl. Shellac [18] is a compound of shell and lac ‘lacquer, varnish’ (a word of Sanskrit origin, of which lacquer is a derivative), and is a direct translation of French laque en écailles ‘lac (melted) in thin plates’.
=> scale, scalp, school, shale, shelter, shield, shoal, skill, skol
shelter: shelter: [16] The origins of shelter are unclear, but the most usually accepted explanation is that it is an alteration of the now obsolete sheltron. This denoted a body of troops which protected itself in battle with a covering of joined shields. It was descended from Old English scieldtruma, a compound formed from scield, the ancestor of modern English shield, and truma ‘troop’.
=> shield
shemozzle: shemozzle: [19] Shemozzle is one of a number of Yiddish words beginning with sh to have found their way into English. Most are relatively recent introductions, via American English – schlemiel ‘fool, blunderer’ [19] (possibly from a Biblical character Shelumiel who came to a sticky end), schlep ‘carry, lug’ [20] (ultimately from German schleppen ‘drag’), schlock ‘trash’ [20] (originally ‘broken merchandise’, and so perhaps related to German schlagen ‘hit’), schmaltz ‘oversentimentality’ [20] (originally ‘melted fat’, and so distantly related to English smelt), schmuck ‘fool, oaf’ [19] (literally ‘penis’) – but shemozzle is of an earlier vintage, brought by Jewish immigrants to the East End of London.

It is a compound formed from Yiddish shlim ‘bad’ and mazel ‘luck’ (as in the Yiddish greeting mazel tov ‘good luck’), and was independently borrowed into American English as schlimazel ‘loser, failure’ [20].
shepherd: shepherd: [OE] Shepherd is of course a compound of sheep and herd – but not herd ‘group of animals’. This is a different herd, meaning ‘herdsman’, which now survives only in compounds (cowherd and goatherd are other examples). It comes from the same Germanic source as herd ‘group of animals’.
=> herd, sheep
sherbet: sherbet: [17] Like syrup, sherbet goes back ultimately to the Arabic verb shariba ‘drink’, whose initial /shr/ sound was originally imitative of the sound of noisy drinking or slurping. From it was derived the noun sharbah, whose plural sharbāt passed into Turkish as sherbet or shorbet. English took over the former as sherbet, and originally used it for a ‘cooling Middle Eastern drink, made with melted snow’. Its modern application, to a powder for making sweet fizzy drinks (or just for eating), did not emerge until the mid-19th century. Italian adopted shorbet as sorbetto, which reached English via French as sorbet [16].
=> sorbet, syrup
sheriff: sheriff: [OE] A sheriff is etymologically a ‘shirereeve’ – that is, a ‘county official’. The term was compounded in the Old English period from scīr, ancestor of modern English shire, and gerēfa ‘local official’, a word based on *rōf ‘assembly’ which survives as the historical term reeve. It was used for the ‘monarch’s representative in a county’.
=> reeve, shire
sherpa: sherpa: [19] The Sherpas are a Tibetan people who live in northern Nepal. Their name for themselves (sharpa in Tibetan) means literally ‘dweller in an eastern country’. They act as mountain guides in the Himalayas, and since the exploits on Mount Everest of Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa, became well known in the 1950s, sherpa has become a generic term for a ‘Himalayan mountain guide’.
sherry: sherry: [16] Various sorts of dryish or sweetened white wine known as sack (etymologically ‘dry wine’) were imported into England in the 16th and 17th centuries. Many came from Spain, and the sort made around Xerez (now Jerez) in southern Spain was called in English (in an approximation to the Spanish pronunciation of Xerez) sherris sack. Before the end of the 16th century this had been reduced to sherry, which in due course came to be applied to the fortified Spanish wine that now goes by that name.
shibboleth: shibboleth: [14] Hebrew shibbōleth meant ‘stream’. According to the Bible, the Gileadites used it as a password, for they knew their enemies the Ephraimites could not pronounce the sh properly (‘And it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay, then they said unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right’, Judges 12:5–6).

In 17th-century English it came to be applied generically to any word used as a test of pronunciation, particularly as a sign of belonging to a group, and hence by extension to any catchword or slogan adopted by a group, and this eventually evolved into the modern sense ‘outmoded slogan, practice, etc still adhered to’.
shield: shield: [OE] Shield goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *skelduz, which also produced German and Dutch schild, Swedish sköld, and Danish skjoldr. This was probably derived from the Germanic base *skel- ‘divide, split, separate’ (source also of English scale, shell, etc), and hence denoted etymologically a ‘flat piece of wood produced by splitting a log, board’. Shelter is probably descended from a compound formed from shield.
=> scale, shell, shelter
shift: shift: [OE] Old English sciftan meant ‘arrange’ (it came from a prehistoric Germanic base *skip-, which also produced German schichten ‘arrange in layers, pile up’, and traces of its original meaning survive in make-shift [16], denoting something arranged or contrived for lack of anything better). Its modern meaning ‘move’ emerged in the 14th century, via an intermediate ‘change’. The notion of ‘change’ underlies the use of the noun shift for ‘woman’s slip’, which evolved from an earlier ‘change of clothing’, and also its use for a ‘particular working period’, marked by a ‘change’ of workers at beginning and end.
shilling: shilling: [OE] Shilling has relatives in the other Germanic languages – German schilling, Dutch schelling, and Swedish and Danish skilling – which point back to a prehistoric Germanic *skillinggaz. Where this came from, however, is a mystery. Among suggestions are that it was formed from the base *skel- ‘divide, separate’ (source of English scale, shell, etc), and hence denotes etymologically a ‘division’ of a standard unit of weight or currency; or from the base *skell- ‘resound, ring’ (source of Dutch schel ‘shrill’ and German schelle ‘bell’).
shimmer: shimmer: [OE] Shimmer goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *skim- (source also of German schimmern ‘glitter, gleam’). This was an extension of the base *ski-, from which English gets sheer and shine.
=> sheer, shine
shin: shin: [OE] Shin has Germanic relatives in German schiene ‘thin plate’, Dutch schen ‘shin’, Swedish skena ‘shin’, and Danish skinne ‘splint’. Its underlying meaning seems to be ‘thin piece’. The first record of its use as a verb, meaning ‘climb with the hands and legs’, comes from the early 19th century.
shindy: shindy: [19] Shindy is an alteration of shinty [18], the name of a rumbustious Scottish game resembling hockey which was also used in the 19th century for a ‘commotion’. Shinty itself appears to be a lexicalization of shin t’ ye ‘shin to you’, a cry supposedly uttered by players of the game. Shindig [19] is probably an alteration of shindy.
=> shindig, shinty
shine: shine: [OE] Shine and its Germanic relatives, German scheinen, Dutch schijnen, Swedish skina, and Danish skinne, go back to a prehistoric *skīnan. This was derived from *ski-, a base which also produced English sheer and shimmer (sheen, despite its similarity, is not connected). Other descendants of this base were Greek skiá ‘shadow’ and skēné ‘tent’ (source of English scene); the semantic link between the rather unlikely bedfellows ‘shining’ and ‘shadow’ is held to be ‘faint light’.
=> scene, sheer, shimmer
shingle: shingle: English has two distinct words shingle. The older, ‘roof tile’ [12], was borrowed from Latin scindula, a variant of scandula ‘roof tile’. This was probably derived from scandere ‘ascend’ (source of English ascend, descend, scan, etc), the underlying notion being of rows of tiles rising one above the other like steps. Shingle ‘beach pebbles’ [16] is of unknown origin; it may be related to Norwegian singl ‘coarse sand’ and North Frisian singel ‘gravel’. Shingles [14], incidentally, the name of a viral infection, comes from Latin cingulum ‘girdle’, a close relative of English cincture ‘girdle’: the disease is often characterized by skin eruptions that almost encircle the body.
=> ascend, descend, scan; cincture
ship: ship: [OE] Ship comes from a prehistoric Germanic *skipam, which also produced German schiff, Dutch schip, Swedish skepp, and Danish skib. It is not known for certain where this came from, although a link has been suggested with Latvian shkibīt ‘cut, hew’, in which case the underlying meaning of ship could be ‘hollowed-out log’ – a ‘dugout’, in other words.

The Old High German form schif was borrowed into Italian as schifo, and this made its way via French esquif into English as skiff [16]. The Middle Dutch form schip had a derivative schipper ‘captain of a small ship’, which has given English skipper [14]. And equip too comes from a relative of English ship.
=> equip, skiff, skipper
shire: shire: [OE] The original meaning of shire, which did not survive beyond the Old English period, was ‘official charge, administrative office’, and it has been suggested that the word is related ultimately to Latin cūra ‘care, charge’ (source of English curate, cure, etc). Already by the 9th century it was being used for an ‘administrative area ruled by a governor’, and over the next hundred years the application to what is now known as a county emerged. (County itself was introduced in the 14th century, and gradually ousted shire.) Sheriff is a compound based on shire.
=> sheriff