English
shire
Shire comes from Middle English schire ‘region, shire, county’, from Old English sċīr ‘shire; administrative region’, and ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *skīru ‘district; office’.
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*skīru‘district; office’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150sċīr‘shire; administrative region’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500schire‘region’
- Englishearliest quotation 1574shire
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*skīru‘district; office’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150sċīr‘shire; administrative region’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500schire‘region’
- Englishearliest quotation 1574shire
Earliest quotation: 1574, ine Marlorate [i.e., [Revelation 1:11]: “And Thyatira. It is a Citie of Lydia which…”
The story
The noun is derived from Middle English schire (‘region, shire, county’) [and other forms], from Old English sċīr (‘administrative region under an alderman and sheriff, shire; district under a governor or official; status of an official, office’) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *skīru (‘district; status of an official, office’); further etymology uncertain, possibly related to Latin cūra (‘care, concern; administration, charge, management; command, office’), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeys- (‘to heed; to see’).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.
Linked words
pairs
- shire and sheriff both from Old English sċīr ‘shire’
through Proto-Indo-European *kʷeys- ‘to see’
sure, security, secure, cure, proxy, curator, curate, incurable, sicker, curation, 10 more
Today it means
noun An administrative area or district between about the 5th to the 11th century, subdivided into hundreds or wapentakes and jointly governed by an ealdorman and a sheriff; also, a present-day area corresponding to such a historical district; a county; especially (England), a county having a name ending in -shire.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-West Germanic *skīru / shire