sciftan

Old English

Alternative forms

• sċyftan

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *skiftijaną, *skiptijaną, from earlier *skipatjaną (“to organise, put in order”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeyb- (“to separate, divide, part”), from Proto-Indo-European *skēy- (“to cut, divide, separate, part”).

Verb

sċiftan

1. to divide, separate into shares
2. to appoint, ordain, arrange

Conjugation

Conjugation of sċiftan (weak, class 1)

infinitive	sċiftan	sċiftenne
indicative mood	present tense	past tense
first person singular	sċifte	sċifte
second person singular	sċiftest, sċifst, sċiftst	sċiftest
third person singular	sċifteþ, sċift	sċifte
plural	sċiftaþ	sċifton
subjunctive	present tense	past tense
singular	sċifte	sċifte
plural	sċiften	sċiften
imperative
singular	sċift
plural	sċiftaþ
participle	present	past
	sċiftende	(ġe)sċifted

Derived terms

• ġesċiftan
• tōsċiftan

Descendants

• Middle English: schiften
  • Scots: schift, shift
  • English: shift
    • → Vietnamese: quần chíp

References

• Joseph Bosworth; T. Northcote Toller (1898), “sċiftan”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, second edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.