Schyppynge

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. Vessels or boats considered as a group ; the carriage of cargo or goods by water across a sea or river
2. A fleet of ships or craft taken together ; the conveying of merchandise over water by vessel
3. The collective body of vessels afloat ; the business of moving freight across waters by boat

Etymology: This is a Middle English spelling of "shipping," the noun for goods carried by sea or river, or for ships collectively. The "sch-" and "-ynge" spellings reflect how scribes wrote English before spelling was standardized, when one word could appear in many shapes depending on region and copyist. The root is the Old English "scip," meaning ship, which belongs to an old Germanic family that also gave German "Schiff" and Dutch "schip." The "-ing" ending turns the verb "shippen," to put on board a ship, into a noun for the activity and its results. The exact date of this spelling is uncertain, but the noun was well established in English by the later Middle Ages.