▪ I. skirret1
(ˈskɪrɪt)
Forms: α. 4 skyrwate, 5–6 skyrwyt (5 -wytte, skerwyth, scyrwyȝth, schirewyt), 6 skyrwit; 4 skirwhite, 4–5 -whit, 5–7 -wit, 6 -wike, 7 -wicke. β. 6 skyrwort, -wurt, 6–8 skirwort, 6 -wurt, 7 -wirt; 7 skir(r)iwort. γ. 6 skyrrit, 6– skirret (6 skiret), 7 skirrot; 7 skerret, 8 -ett, -it.
[ME. skirwhit(e, app. an alteration by popular etymology (? simulating skire white pure white) of OF. eschervis (mod.F. chervis), which is closely related to Sp. chirivia, Pg. cherivia, and appears to be a variant of OF. carvi caraway. The later Eng. skirret is a natural development from skirwhit, while skirwort represents a further attempt to make the word intelligible.]
1. a. A perennial umbelliferous plant, Sium sisarum, a species of water parsnip, formerly much cultivated in Europe for its esculent tubers; the root of this plant.
In one or two 15th cent. glossaries skyrwyt renders L. eruca, prob. in error.
| α 1338 in Dugdale Monasticon (1846) II. 585/1 In flore, jd. In skirwhittes, jd. a 1387 Sinon. Barthol. (Anecd. Oxon.) 12 Baucea, skirwhit. Ibid. 33 Pastinaca, skirwhite. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 458/1 Skyrwyt, herbe or rote. 1530 Palsgr. 271/1 Skyrwyt, an herbe. 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 600 Skirwits: The roots boiled are good for the stomacke. 1639 Horn & Rob. Gate Lang. Unl. xii. §126 The rape.., the navew, parsnip, carret, skirwit. |
| β 1548 Turner Names Herbes (E.D.S.) 74 Fuchsius rekoneth that our skyrwort or skyrwit is a kynde of siser. Persnepes and skirwortes are commune in Englande. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 605 Skirwurtes are hoate and drie in the seconde degree. 1611 Speed Theat. Gr. Brit. xxxix. (1614) 78 Pomfret..brings forth liquorice and great plenty of skiriworts. 1725 Fam. Dict., Skirret or Skirwort. |
| γ 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 94 Herbes and rootes for sallets and sauce... Skirrets. 1608 Machin Dumbe Knight i, Roasted potatoes, or boil'd skerrets, are your only lofty dishes. 1699 Evelyn Acetaria 64 Skirrets..exceedingly nourishing, wholsome and delicate. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet in Aliments, etc. i. 250 Skirrets, useful in bloody Urine, and Spitting of Blood. 1803 A. Hunter Georg. Ess. I. 416 Half a pound of skirrets, an ounce and a half of pure sugar. 1855 Delamer Kitchen Gard. (1861) 33 The Skirret... A native of China, with the root composed of fleshy tubers..growing together something like a dahlia root. |
| attrib. 1728 E. Smith Compleat Housewife (ed. 2) 113 (heading) To make a skirret-pye. 1840 Ainsworth Tower of London (1864) 85 A skirret pasty; an apple tansy; and a prodigious marrow pudding. |
b. With distinguishing terms, as
garden,
wild; also applied to other species of
Sium (
quot. 1796).
| c 1450 Alphita (Anecd. Oxon.) 30 Carui agreste, wylde⁓schirewyt. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Chervis sauvages, wild Skirwike. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 41 To come more particularly to the garden Skirwort. 1713 Phil. Trans. XXVIII. 42 Garden Skirrets. 1796 Withering Brit. Pl. (ed. 3) II. 299 Sium latifolium.., Broad-leaved Skerrett. Great Water Parsnep. Ibid., S. angustifolium.., Upright Water Parsnep. Narrow-leaved Skerret. |
† c. skirret of Peru, the potato.
Obs.| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cccxxxiv. 780 This plant which is called of some Sisarum Peruuianum, or Skyrrits of Peru, is generally of vs called Potatus or Potatoes. |
2. skirret-root, the edible root of the plant
Sium sisarum, or, more frequently, the plant itself.
| 1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Siser, One kinde of it is the roote that is called Skirwike rootes. 1601 Holland Pliny xix. v. II. 18 The Skirwirt root or white Parsnip, (which indeed would be written among other Physicke plants). 1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 326 Skirret⁓roots were so sweet and delicate in ancient times, that [etc.]. 1736 Ainsworth ii, Siser,..the skirret root. |
▪ II. ˈskirret2 Freemasonry.
(See
quots.)
| 1825 Republican 29 July 123 The skirret is an implement which acts on a centre pin, from whence a centre line is drawn, chalked and struck, to mark out the ground for the foundation of the intended structure. 1853 G. Oliver Dict. Symb. Masonry 339 The skirret acting on a centre pin is used to mark out the ground of a new building. As the skirret has a chalked line attached to it [etc.]. 1877 K. R. H. Mackenzie Roy. Masonic Cycl. 677 Skirret.—One of the working tools of a Master Mason. It is an instrument usually made of wood, shaped like the letter T, acting on a centre-pin. |