Schire

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic spelling of shire, meaning a county or administrative district ; in Scots and Middle English, bright, clear or shining
2. A historical spelling for an English county or territorial district ; an old Scots and Middle English word describing something bright, pure or clear
3. Denoting a county or local administrative area in older English ; also used in Scots and Middle English to mean bright, clear or luminous

Etymology: In Old English, "scīr" meant "care" or "official charge," not a region. Its earliest sense was closer to "division" or "portion," from a Germanic root that also gave German "Schere" (scissors) and English "share." Once Anglo-Saxon England was divided into administrative districts, a "scīr" came to mean the district itself, which is the sense that survives in the names of English counties such as Yorkshire and Wiltshire. The title "shire-reeve," a royal official who oversaw a shire, was later worn down to "sheriff." Some Scots and Middle English writers spelled the word "schire," and that spelling also appears in the sense "bright" or "clear." Dictionaries usually treat that adjective as a separate word, from a different root, though the two have been confused in the spelling tradition.