Etymograph

English

shingle

Shingle comes from Proto-West Germanic *skindulā ‘roof-shingle’, from Proto-Indo-European *sked- ‘to split, scatter’, and ultimately from *sek- ‘to cut’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sek-‘to cut’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*sked-‘to split, scatter’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEscandula‘roof-shingle’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEscindula
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*skindulā‘roof-shingle’reconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150sċindel
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500shyngel
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1760shingle

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sek-‘to cut’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*sked-‘to split, scatter’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEscandula‘roof-shingle’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEscindula
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*skindulā‘roof-shingle’reconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150sċindel
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500shyngel
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1760shingle

Earliest quotation: 1760, John Ray, Select Remains of the Learned John Ray: “I reached St. Asaph, a Bishop's See, where there…”

The story

From Middle English shyngel, alteration of Old English sċindel, from Proto-West Germanic *skindulā, borrowed from Late Latin scindula, from Latin scandula, from Proto-Indo-European *sked- (‘to split, scatter’), from *sek- (‘to cut’).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *sek- ‘to cut’

saw, sex, design, sign, risk, section, sexual, ship, seal, segment, sack, insect, sawyer, scarlet, sax, het, sickle, dissect, scythe, sich, seg, sedge, sigil, brassica, desiccation, desiccant, sain, 62 more

Another origin of shingle

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcingōas cingere‘to girt’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcingula‘girt, belt’
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentchingler‘to strap, whip’
  4. Englishtodayshingle

Another origin of shingle

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500shingel
  2. Englishtodayshingle

Today it means

noun A small, thin piece of building material, often with one end thicker than the other, for laying in overlapping rows as a covering for the roof or sides of a building.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *sek- / shingle

Shirt and support for this word