Etymology

Always derived from ON, cp. the OIcel wk v. skirra 'bar, prevent', cp. skirrask 'shun, shrink from' and the related OIcel adj. skjarr 'sky, timid' < PGmc *skera-. No cognate forms are attested outside NGmc, but an OE reflex would be expected to show palatalization of /sk/.

PGmc Ancestor

*skerr(j)an-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

skirra 'bar, prevent', cp. skirrask 'shun, skrink from'
(ONP skirra (vb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Icel skirra, Norw skjerra, skirra, Sw skärra, Sw dial skjärra

OE Cognate

Phonological and morphological markers

absence of palatalization of */sk/

Summary category

A1c

Attestation

The first citation in MED and OED is from Orrm, and N sources dominate the early occurrences before the v. becomes more widespread.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Cl 598, 838, 1784; WA 3865, 4802

Editors have been troubled by the sense in the context of Cl 1784 ('ascry scarred on þe scue'). GollCl glosses simply 'caused fear', while Menner guesses ?'spread', ?'rise'. Anderson (1784n) implies semantic input from OFr, arguing that the sense 'appears to be rather that of OF escarrir 'abandon' (trans.), 'fly off, bolt' with the idea of very rapid movement'. Vant translates 'sprang', and implies in his note to 598 that this sense could also derive from a Scandinavian etymon without further input; cp. AW and Olsen 598n (citing MED).

Bibliography

MED skerren (v.) , OED scare (v.) , HTOED , HTOED , Bj. 124, de Vries skirra, Mag. skirra