shirreve

Middle English

Alternative forms

• (Early Middle English) scirereve, scyrreve, scirreve
• shirryf, schireve, schirref, scheryfe, schereffe, scherreve, schereref, shyryf, shyrrefe, sherryff, shreve

Etymology

From Old English sċīrġerēfa; equivalent to shire (“shire”) +‎ reve.

The presence of /f/ in variant forms may be due to analogy with nouns that end with /f/ in the singular, but have /v/ in the plural such as leef and thef.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃireːv(ə)/, /ˈʃ(ɛ)reːv(ə)/, /ˈʃiːreːv(ə)/, /ˈʃɛriv(ə)/, /ˈʃirif(ə)/, /ˈʃɛrif(ə)/

Noun

shirreve (plural shireves)

1. A sheriff; a person responsible for a number of different tasks, including law enforcement and judicial responsibilities.
2. Any administrative deputy or official.

Derived terms

• shirrevehod
• shirevewyk

Descendants

• English: sheriff, shrieve
• Scots: shirra

References

• “shī̆r-rẹ̄̆ve, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 31 April 2018.