Shirreve

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A historical English official who served as the chief administrative and judicial authority of a shire or county
2. The sheriff of an Anglo-Saxon shire, responsible for keeping the peace and collecting royal dues in the county
3. An old English term for the officer who presided over a shire, enforcing law and managing county affairs for the crown

Etymology: The Old English "scīrgerēfa" was a compound of "scīr", meaning a shire or district, and "gerēfa", meaning an official or reeve, so the title literally meant "shire-reeve." Over the centuries the word wore down in speech, and the spelling "shirreve" records one stage of that erosion, with the "gerēfa" ending shortened to "-reeve" and then the whole thing reduced to "sheriff" in Middle English. "Shirreve" is simply an older spelling of "sheriff," not a separate word, and it was in use through the medieval and early modern periods before the modern form took hold. The "-reeve" element survives in other English titles such as "bailiff-reeve" and in the village office of reeve, showing how widely the same "official" root was used in local government.

Synonyms: sheriff, reeve