entry
shelter
/ˈʃɛltər/a place or condition providing protection
From Proto-Indo-European, through Proto-Germanic and Old English shield (a defensive barrier or protective object) + Proto-Indo-European, through Proto-Germanic and Old English truma (a firm or compact troop).
from PIE *dru-mo- , suffixed form of root *deru- "be firm, solid, steadfast." If so, the original notion is of a...
from Old English scyldtruma
+1 more sourcefrom Old English scyldtruma
+1 more sourcefrom Proto-Germanic *trum-
+1 more sourcefrom Proto-Germanic *trum-
+1 more sourceWord Ancestry
from PIE *dru-mo- , suffixed form of root *deru- "be firm, solid, steadfast." If so, the original notion is of a...
from Old English scyldtruma
+1 more sourcefrom Old English scyldtruma
+1 more sourcefrom Proto-Germanic *trum-
+1 more sourcefrom Proto-Germanic *trum-
+1 more sourcePicture an Anglo-Saxon battle line: men crouched shoulder to shoulder, raising their shields until they made a wooden roof over the whole group. Old English called this a sċildtruma—literally a “shield-troop”—and the formation could look like a tortoise crawling across a battlefield. The first half is related to shield, whose distant ancestor may have meant “to split,” perhaps describing a board cleaved from a log; the second belongs to the family of firm, steadfast words. By the 1580s, English had turned this military image into shelter, although the exact route is disputed: the Oxford English Dictionary considers a direct formation from shield plus a suffix more plausible than an unbroken survival from sheltron. Either way, every shelter preserves the old visual idea of people—or walls—locking together between us and danger.
The Story
Picture an Anglo-Saxon battle line: men crouched shoulder to shoulder, raising their shields until they made a wooden roof over the whole group. Old English called this a sċildtruma—literally a “shield-troop”—and the formation could look like a tortoise crawling across a battlefield. The first half is related to shield, whose distant ancestor may have meant “to split,” perhaps describing a board cleaved from a log; the second belongs to the family of firm, steadfast words. By the 1580s, English had turned this military image into shelter, although the exact route is disputed: the Oxford English Dictionary considers a direct formation from shield plus a suffix more plausible than an unbroken survival from sheltron. Either way, every shelter preserves the old visual idea of people—or walls—locking together between us and danger.
Modern Usage
A person shielded from real-world experience and unaware of how reality works.
Notable References
- Urban Dictionary entry describing an inexperienced or sheltered person
Kin & Kindred
From 'shield'·a defensive barrier or protective object
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From 'truma'·a firm or compact troop
Derived Terms
English words from this root