English
shard
Shard comes from Old English sċeard ‘a broken piece’, from Proto-West Germanic *skard ‘notch, nick’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to cut’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)ker-‘to cut’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skardaz‘damaged’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skardą‘notch’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*skard‘notch, nick’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150sċeard‘a broken piece’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500shard
- Englishearliest quotation 2012shard
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)ker-‘to cut’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skardaz‘damaged’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skardą‘notch’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*skard‘notch, nick’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150sċeard‘a broken piece’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500shard
- Englishearliest quotation 2012shard
Earliest quotation: 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube: “You know there is something fascinating beyond that wall…”
The story
The database sense is perhaps derived from the online gaming sense or from SHARD (System for Highly Available Replicated Data), name of a 1980s database product.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to cut’
across, short, cross, cancer, screen, score, circle, circuit, card, shirt, share, crucial, curve, circus, circulation, skirt, curb, scare, cancellation, scrutiny, crest, carnival, circa, shrine, scar, corona, scorpion, incarceration, raffle, circulate, corolla, scorn, carnage, crux, shred, cirque, carcinoma, riddance, circulatory, crepe, 119 more
Today it means
noun A piece of broken glass or pottery, especially one found in an archaeological dig.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- / shard