The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #25936   Message #308692
Posted By: Malcolm Douglas
29-Sep-00 - 11:10 PM
Thread Name: Help: 'Sheiling' or 'sheeling' or 'sheilin'
Subject: RE: Help: 'Sheiling' or 'sheeling' or 'sheilin'
Those variant spellings all mean the same thing; I think that the compiler of the dictionary just got bored with repeating himself and tried to put it slightly differently each time!  Shire isn't related; it probably derives from O.E. scir: "office, authority"; that is, an administrative unit.

Malcolm