shortshort

Short comes from Middle English schort, from Old English sċort ‘short’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *skurtaz ‘short’, perhaps from *skertaną ‘to cut off’.

1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skertaną¹‘to cut off’uncertain
2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skurtaz¹‘short’reconstructed
3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*skurt¹reconstructed
4. Old Englishc. 450–1150sċort¹‘short’
5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500schort¹
6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1595–1596short¹

1. ¹ Wiktionary, English short
2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame: “For the short and the long is, our play…”.