scieppan

• sċippan — Early West Saxon
• sċyppan — Late West Saxon
• sċeppan — Anglian, Kentish

From Proto-West Germanic *skappjan, from Proto-Germanic *skapjaną. Cognate with Old Frisian skeppa, Old High German scaffan, Old Norse skapa.

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃi͜yp.pɑn/

sċieppan

1. to create
   • c. 992, Ælfric, "The Octaves and Circumcision of Our Lord"

     Dēofol ne mæġ nāne ġesċeaft sċieppan.

     Satan cannot create anything.

2. to shape; mould, form
   • c. 995, Ælfric, Extracts on Grammar in English

     Fingō: "iċ hīewiġe oþþe sċieppe."

     Fingo: "I form or shape."

• (Ġe)sċieppan is loftier than (ġe)wyrċan, which is the general word for "to make." (Ġe)sċieppan is almost solely attested describing the acts of deities, though a wider sense such as "to create with the mind" is hinted at by the phrase menn naman ġesċieppan (“to give someone a name”).

• The prefixed variant ġesċieppan is much more common in prose, almost to the total exclusion of the unprefixed form.

• Middle English: scheppen, schippen, schappen, schapen
  • English: shape
  • Scots: schape, schaipe