Etymograph

English

shall

Shall comes from Middle English schal, from Old English sċeal, from Proto-Germanic *skal, from PIE *skel- ‘to owe’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skel-1‘to owe’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skal1reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*skulan1‘to owe’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150sċeal1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500schal1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1611shall1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English shall
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “And the gates of it ſhall not bee ſhut…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skel-Wiktionary, English shall‘to owe’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skalWiktionary, English shallreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*skulanWiktionary, English shall‘to owe’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150sċealWiktionary, English shall
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500schalWiktionary, English shall
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1611shallWiktionary, English shall. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “And the gates of it ſhall not bee ſhut…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *skel- ‘to owe, be under obligation’

squeal, 4 more

Today it means

verb Used before a verb to indicate the simple future tense in the first person singular or plural.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “shall”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *skel- / shall

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