- shield (n.)
- Old English scield, scild, related to sciell (see shell), from Proto-Germanic *skeldus (cf. Old Norse skjöldr, Old Saxon skild, Middle Dutch scilt, Dutch schild, German Schild, Gothic skildus), from *skel- "divide, split, separate," from PIE root *(s)kel- "to cut." Perhaps the notion is of a flat piece of wood made by splitting a log. Shield volcano (1911) translates German Schildvulkan (1910).
- shield (v.)
- Old English gescildan, from the root of shield (n.). Related: Shielded; shielding.