Etymograph

English

skim

Skim comes from Old French escumer ‘to remove scum’, from escume ‘froth, foam’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *skew- ‘to cover, conceal’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skew-‘to cover, conceal’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skūmaz‘foam’reconstructed
  3. Frankishc. 250–700*skūm‘froth, foam’reconstructed
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400escume‘froth, foam’
  5. Old French, derivedc. 842–1400escumer‘to remove scum’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500skemen
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1711skim

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skew-‘to cover, conceal’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skūmaz‘foam’reconstructed
  3. Frankishc. 250–700*skūm‘froth, foam’reconstructed
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400escume‘froth, foam’
  5. Old French, derivedc. 842–1400escumer‘to remove scum’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500skemen
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1711skim

Earliest quotation: 1711, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism: “Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain, /…”

Linked words

through Frankish *skūm ‘froth, foam’

scum

Today it means

verb To pass lightly; to glide along in an even, smooth course; to glide along near the surface.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *skew- / skim

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