Thenoun is derived fromMiddle Englishschire(“region, shire, county”)[and other forms],[1] fromOld Englishsċīr(“administrative region under an alderman and sheriff, shire; district under a governor or official; status of an official, office”)[and other forms], fromProto-West Germanic*skīru(“district; status of an official, office”); further etymology uncertain, possibly related toLatincūra(“care, concern; administration, charge, management; command, office”), ultimately fromProto-Indo-European*kʷeys-(“to heed; to see”).[2]
I thanke his grace he hath appointed him, / Chiefe colonell of all thoſe companies / Muſtred in London, and theſhires about, / To ſerue his highneſſe in thoſe warres of France:[…]
But thus I do conjecture it to be, That at the firſt Unitining[sic – meaningUniting?] of the Heptarchy of theSaxons, and the Shiring out of the Kingdom, it vvas divided intoShires, and theShires again into Hundreds, as it fell out, in ſome more, in ſome leſs: VVhichShires (as I have ſaid) the King gave to ſuch as he pleaſed, and to their Heirs, to hold of him by an Earls Fee.
In August, 1642, the sword was at length drawn; and soon, in almost everyshire of the kingdom, two hostile factions appeared in arms against each other.
Mrs. Heywood tells me that there are many Catholics among the lower classes in Lancashire and Cheshire,—probably the descendants of retainers of the old Catholic nobility and gentry, who are more numerous in theseshires than in other parts of England.
As through the wild green hills of Wyre / The train ran, changing sky andshire, /[…] / My hand lay empty on my knee. / Aching on my knee it lay: / That morning half ashire away / So many an honest fellow's fist / Had wellnigh wrung it from the wrist.
The early history of theshire is hard to trace. Already in the ninth century it seems to have been the core administrative division within Wessex. Originally eachshire was overseen by an ealdorman, who was charged with raising levies and perhaps also overseeing the local court (though the evidence is scant on the latter point). At the heart of theshire lay the local assembly (the ‘shire court’), at which such business was conducted.
[T]his oldEvil-queſtioning asked theDoubters if they vvere all of aTovvn, (he knevv that they vvere all of one Kingdom)? and they anſvvered no, nor not of oneShire neither;[…]
His blazing eyes, like tvvo bright ſhining ſhieldes, / Did burne vvith vvrath, and ſparkled liuing fyre; / As tvvo broad Beacons, ſett in open fieldes, / Send forth their flames far of to eueryſhyre,[…]
After theNorman Conquest in the 11th century,sense 1.1 (“administrative area or district jointly governed by an ealdorman and a sheriff”) was generally replaced bycounty, a word of French origin.[2]
administrative area or district subdivided into hundreds or wapentakes and jointly governed by an ealdorman and a sheriff; present-day area corresponding to such a historical district; administrative area or district in other countries—see alsocounty
[I]t made no Matter, if the Countrie vvere neverſhired, nor her Majesties VVritt othervviſe curraunt then it is; for humblye he kepeth all his People ſubiect to Obedience and good Order;[…]
[pages 209–210] But vvhether it vvere ſo eſtabliſhedEgbert,Alfred, orEdvvard, vvhen they had brought it to a Monarchy, andShired it out into parts, or that they vvere appointed Earls in every County, vvhich had an Inheritance therein, and had Juriſdiction, as by the County Court and Sheriffs Turns, it vvould ſeem it vvas: Is the Queſtion I deſire to be reſolved of.[…] [page 211] But thus I do conjecture it to be, That at the firſt Unitining[sic – meaningUniting?] of the Heptarchy of theSaxons, and theShiring out of the Kingdom, it vvas divided into Shires, and the Shires again into Hundreds, as it fell out, in ſome more, in ſome leſs:[…]
The history of theshiring of Ireland is involved in more obscurity than the history of theshiring of England, though not for the same reason in the two cases.[…] [T]heshiring of Ireland was purely the result of the English conquest.
1998,James Lydon, “The End of the Old Order”, inThe Making of Ireland: From Ancient Times to the Present, London, New York, N.Y.:Routledge,→ISBN,page160:
In Ulster the great chieftains had become peers of the realm. The province wasshired into nine counties, with sheriffs and the whole apparatus of English local government.
[T]raditionally theshiring of England is thought to have been the work ofEdward the Elder andÆthelstan, and the appearance of the shire reeve is placed somewhat later; but recent work suggests that developments may have been more gradual, withshiring first becoming systematic underEdgar and his successors and the shire reeve emerging as part of this process.
, Oxford:Oxford University Press, December 2023;“shire,n.”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.
shire on Wikipedia.Wikipedia