adj.
WA skathill, schathill, schatell
'dangerous'
(Modern English )Like the related ME scaþe (n.), always derived from ON because of the absence of palatalization of /sk/. Although the ON n., represented by OIcel skaði (n.) 'harm, damage' is attested, the adj. is not, but a form *skǫðull < PGmc *skaþulaz (derived on the same root; cp. further the st. v. *skaþjan- 'to harm' represented by OE sceððen, OIcel skeðja, Go skaþjan) cognate with Go skaþuls 'harmful' and OHG skadal 'wicked, spoiled' is plausibly reconstructed to explain the ME.
PGmc Ancestor
*skaþula-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
*skǫðull, cp. skaði (n.) 'harm, damage'
(ONP )
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
OE Cognate
cp. sceaða (n.) ‘injurious person’ (and rarely ‘injury’)
Phonological and morphological markers
absence of palatalization of */sk/
Summary category
A1*c
Cited by MED and OED exclusively from N texts, most of which are alliterative poems.
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
Pat 155; WA 2992, 4802