Etymograph

English

skin

Skin comes from Middle English skyn ‘a hide, fur or skin of an animal, especially…’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sken- ‘to split off’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sken-‘to split off’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skinþą‘animal hide’reconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350skinn‘animal hide’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150scinn‘a skin’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500skyn‘a hide’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602skin

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sken-‘to split off’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skinþą‘animal hide’reconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350skinn‘animal hide’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150scinn‘a skin’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500skyn‘a hide’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602skin

Earliest quotation: c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: “It will but skin and film the ulcerous place.”

The story

Partially displaced native Old English hȳd (‘skin, hide’), from which derives hide.

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *sken-

Today it means

noun The outer protective layer of the body of any animal, including of a human.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *sken- / skin

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