Searchable Lemmata: scyrta (OE), skyrta (ON), skirte (ME), scirta (Ir), skirt (OScots), skirt (MdE).
Alternate Forms: scirt, scirte, scirtte, scrit, scrite, scurtes, scurtes, scyrt, scyrtan, skertes, skertes, skirtes, skirthe, skirtte, skurte, skyrt, skyrte.
NOTE(n.) ;
forms giving rise to MdE skirt and shirt originally shared senses, but developed distinct senses prior to the Middle English period.
Ceremonial: No
Body Parts:
1a(n.)
Garment;
child's garment.(ante 1000 - ante 1100)
Sex: Infant Ceremonial: No
Body Parts:
2a(n.)
Accessory;
lower part of a robe, vestement, etc.; the lap or 'dress' part of a garment; in specific senses, the border of a garment hanging below a belt; part of a man's tunic or gown which hangs below the waist and covers all or part of the legs (modern references using this sense are chiefly historical or refer to Eastern or exotic dress). Also (common in MdE), the lower part of a woman's gown or dress; a modern skirt, a separate outer woman's garment covering the waist and all or part of the legs. Cf. shirt.(circa 1400 still in current use)
2. And þere were boun at his bode burnez innoȝe,
Þat broȝt hym to a bryȝt boure, þer beddyng watz noble,
Of cortynes of clene sylk wyth cler golde hemmez,
And couertorez ful curious with comlych panez
Of bryȝt blaunner aboue, enbrawded bisydez,
Rudelez rennande on ropez, red golde ryngez,
Tapitez tyȝt to þe woȝe of tuly and tars,
And vnder fete, on þe flet, of folȝande sute.
...
[865] Þat sete on hyn [read: hym] semly, wyth saylande skyrtez
Arthurian, Heroic, Poetic, Romance.
[MED Gawain ((Nero A.10) 852-865) circa 1400]
Sex: Male, Female Use: n/a Status: n/a Rank: n/a Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: Leg, Waist.
2b(n.)
Accessory;
fold, flap or edge of a garment or soft furnishing; in some glosses: lap or lap of a garment (L gremium).(circa 1350 still in current use)
4. [115a] ... A Skyrt: birrum [*Medulla10a/a: Birrum: a gowne], gremium, grabatum [*Medulla31a/a: Grabatum..a barme]; to put in skyrt: gremiare, jngremiare ... [116b] ... A snwfkyn [Monson: snufkyn]: Pellicudia, Nebrida ... A Soke: Soccus, pedana, pedula.
Gloss.
[MED *Cath.Angl. ((Add 15562) 115a-116b) circa 1475]
Sex: N/A Use: n/a Status: n/a Rank: n/a Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: N/A.
2c(n.)
Armour;
'?the apron-like flaps at the base of a breastplate ... ; pl. the lower part of a coat of mail' [MED, 'skirt(e)'].(ante 1400 - circa 1450 ?)
1. [5129] ... He smot hem on that yren hat, That ney the heued ofte it sat ... [5270] ... Polidomas ful wroth vp-sterte, He pulled him by the skirthe, He sette a strok vnder his choke
Heroic, Historic, Poetic, Romance.
[MED Ld.Troy ((LdMisc 595) 5129-5270) circa 1425]
Sex: Male Use: Military Status: n/a Rank: n/a Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: Leg, Waist.
Definite, from Old Norse skyrta, the cognate of the native English word shirt (q.v.). Presumably borrowed in the late Anglo-Saxon period (cf. sense 1a), though not attested in its most common senses until the fourteenth century.
Irish scirta, etc. may be related to English skirt or possibly shirt; the attestations given in eDIL post-date 1450; DIL states: "(Eng. loan-word) skirt, garment: céime do bhéimfeadh sciorta `garment-rending steps ' [Ó Bruad. ii 182.4]; atáid do 60 sciortadha leis `thy skirts are discovered ' [Jerem. xiii 22]". Whilst eDIL suggest that Irish usage stems from English, it is quite possible that it too comes from Norse skyrta, based on the fact that Dineen's dictionary (nineteenth-century) also defines sciorta as edges and borders, though this sense equally could come from English usage.
WF: Borrowed into the British Isles
Etym Cog: shirt.
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