Etymograph

English

shieling

Shieling comes from Scots shiel ‘hut’, and goes back to Old Norse skjól ‘shelter, cover’.

  1. Old Norsec. 800–1350skjól1‘shelter, cover’
  2. Scotsc. 1450–presentshiel1‘hut’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1836shieling1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English shieling
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1836, Joanna Baillie, The Phantom: “And what are twenty beds, when all the drovers,…”.

Lineage

  1. Old Norsec. 800–1350skjólWiktionary, English shieling‘shelter, cover’
  2. Scotsc. 1450–presentshielWiktionary, English shieling‘hut’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1836shielingWiktionary, English shieling. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1836, Joanna Baillie, The Phantom: “And what are twenty beds, when all the drovers,…”

Formed from ing

Old English ing ‘meadow, water meadow, ing’

Middle English ing

English ing

Every English word from Old Norse skjól

Today it means

noun An area of summer pasture used for cattle, sheep etc.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “shieling”. 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 / Old Norse skjól / shieling

Shirt and support for this word