- shuttle (n.)
- Old English scytel "a dart, arrow," from West Germanic *skutilaz (cf. Old Norse skutill "harpoon"), from Proto-Germanic *skut- "project" (see shoot). The weaving instrument so called (mid-14c.) from being "shot" across the threads. In some other languages, the machine takes its name from its resemblance to a boat (cf. Latin navicula, French navette, German weberschiff). Sense of "train that runs back and forth" is first recorded 1895, from image of the weaver's instrument's back-and-forth movement over the warp; extended to aircraft 1942, to spacecraft 1969.
- shuttle (v.)
- 1550s, "move rapidly to and fro," from shuttle (n.); sense of "transport via a shuttle service" is recorded from 1930. Related: Shuttled; shuttling.