Etymograph

English

chine

Chine comes from Old French eschine ‘spine’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *skinō ‘plate’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skinō‘plate’reconstructed
  2. Frankishc. 250–700*skinureconstructed
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400eschine‘spine’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chyne‘the spine’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1717chine

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skinō‘plate’reconstructed
  2. Frankishc. 250–700*skinureconstructed
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400eschine‘spine’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chyne‘the spine’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1717chine

Earliest quotation: 1717, John Dryden et al., (please specify |book=I to XV): “And chine with rising bristles roughly spread.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *skey- ‘to cut, split’

nice, science, equipment, scientific, ship, shift, shed, skip, conscious, kyle, ski, squire, sheath, skeet, scuttle, prescient, skiff, scullery, shud, 44 more

through Proto-Germanic *skinō ‘plate’

shin, skein

Another origin of chine

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵey-‘to split’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kinō‘a split’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kinureconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150ċine
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chyne‘crack, fissure, chasm’
  6. Englishtodaychine

Another origin of chine

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chyne
  2. Englishtodaychine

Today it means

noun The top of a ridge.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *skinō / chine

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