Etymograph

English

skellum

Skellum comes from Afrikaans skelm ‘scoundrel, rogue’, from Middle High German schelme ‘pest, plague’, and ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *skalmjan.

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*skalmjan1reconstructed
  2. Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350schelme1‘pest, plague’
  3. Germanc. 1650–presentSchelm2‘imp, rogue’
  4. Dutchc. 1500–presentschelm3
  5. Afrikaansmodernskelm2‘scoundrel, rogue’
  6. Englishtodayskellum2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, German Schelm
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English skellum
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Afrikaans skelm

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*skalmjanWiktionary, German Schelmreconstructed
  2. Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350schelmeWiktionary, German Schelm‘pest, plague’
  3. Germanc. 1650–presentSchelmWiktionary, English skellum‘imp, rogue’
  4. Dutchc. 1500–presentschelmWiktionary, Afrikaans skelm
  5. AfrikaansmodernskelmWiktionary, English skellum‘scoundrel, rogue’
  6. EnglishtodayskellumWiktionary, English skellum

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- ‘to split, part, divide’

half, shield, skill, shell, shale, skull, shilling, shoal, halter, schilling, halve, shelve, hapa, schelling, 13 more

Today it means

noun A rogue.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “skellum”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for German Schelm, Afrikaans skelm. 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-West Germanic *skalmjan / skellum

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