# Etymology: Ship and -ship

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-ship-and-ship/375088>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 3, 2006, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-ship-and-ship/375088 "2006-10-03T09:32:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-ship-and-ship/375088/1 "2006-10-03T09:32:17Z")

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Are the word ship and the suffix -ship (as in ownership) related etymologically?

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**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2006, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-ship-and-ship/375088/2 "2006-10-03T12:34:35Z")

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Ship, as in boat, is rooted in the Proto-Germanic “skipam”, same meaning; Proto-Indo-European root uncertain.

-ship, as in quality or condition, is rooted in Proto-Indo-European “skep”, meaning “cut” or “scrape”, whose meaning evolved to mean “shape” in Germanic (a form which is cut off from a larger whole), and which led to “-ship”, meaning “shape” in the abstract sense of “quality” or “condition”.

(acc. to the American Heritage Dictionary)

Note to self – Next time in Australia, bring dictionaries to hand out to the natives!