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Skittish

Filed Under March 2007, columns

Eek.

Dear Word Detective: Could you tell me the origin of the word “skittish” please? –David Franklin.

Thanks for an interesting question. The moment I read it, of course, I realized that many readers would wonder whether “skittish” has any connection to the noun “skit” meaning a short, humorous playlet. As it happens, the two words are indeed related, but the connection is a tangled one.

Today we use “skittish” to mean “nervous, restless, fickle or unreliable,” as in “The skittish witness against the mob boss was eventually found to be living in Ulan Bator disguised as a itinerant fly swatter salesman.” Animals as well as people can be “skittish,” and one of the better definitions of the word comes courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) speaking, in this case, of “skittishness” in horses: “Disposed or apt to start or be unruly without sufficient cause; given to shying or restiveness through high spirits or playfulness; unduly lively or spirited.” The general sense of “skittish” today is of a person or animal that is nervous, easily distracted or “spooked” and perhaps a bit paranoid.

The sense of “skittish” when it first appeared in English in the 15th century, however, was a bit different. As the OED puts it, “skittish” meant “Characterized by levity, frivolity, or excessive liveliness,” and many uses at the time gave the distinct impression that the person under discussion was simply not taking things as seriously as they ought (”She is like a frog in a parsley-bed, as skittish as an eel,” 1592).

The origin and development of “skittish” is, unfortunately, a bit unclear. “Skittish,” the verb “to skit” (meaning “to move lightly”), and the noun “skit” (originally meaning “a vain or frivolous woman”) all appear to be related to the Old Norse word “skjuta,” meaning “to shoot or throw.” The underlying sense of all these words seems to be something that moves lightly and quickly, perhaps unpredictably, a meaning also reflected in the use of “skit” to mean a quick shower of rain or snow, a squirt of water, and the stroke of a pen. Thus “skit” the noun, by the early 18th century, was also being used to mean a quick, biting remark or quip, a sense which, by 1820, had grown into the dramatic satire or parody known as a “skit” today.

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