English
shape
Shape comes from Old English ġesceap ‘shape, creation’, from Proto-Germanic *gaskapą, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kep- ‘to split, cut’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kep-‘to split, cut’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gaskapąreconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*gaskapreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150ġesceap‘shape, form; creation’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500schap
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1604shape
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kep-‘to split, cut’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gaskapąreconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*gaskapreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150ġesceap‘shape, form; creation’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500schap
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1604shape
Earliest quotation: c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice: “Oft my jealousy / Shapes faults that are not.”
The story
The noun is cognate with Middle Dutch schap (‘form’), Middle High German geschaf (‘creature’), Icelandic skap (‘state, condition, temper, mood’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)kep-
through Old English sċeap ‘sheep’
Today it means
noun The status or condition of something
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)kep- / shape