Etymograph

English

shail

Shail may come from Old English sceolh ‘askew, awry, oblique, slanted’.

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150sceolh‘askew, awry, oblique, slanted’uncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1692shail

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150sceolh‘askew, awry, oblique, slanted’uncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1692shail

Earliest quotation: 1692, Roger L’Estrange, [The Fables of Anianus, &c.] Fab[le] CCXXI. An Old Crab and : “Child, (ſays the Mother) You muſt Uſe your ſelf…”.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)kel- ‘to lean, bend’

cylinder, colon, chalice, scoliosis, colic, calender, 16 more

through Proto-Germanic *skelhaz ‘squint-eyed, sloping, awry’

skelly, 1 more

Today it means

verb To walk or move unsteadily or haphazardly; stumbling or shuffling.

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

Etymograph / Old English sceolh / shail

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