sheltron

English

WOTD – 26 March 2022

Alternative forms

• cheldrome, childrome (Scotland)
• sheltrum, schiltrom

Etymology

PIE word
*dóru

A re-enactment of a sheltron or testudo of Roman soldiers at Archeon, an archaeological museum in Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands

From Middle English scheltroun, sheltroun (“group of soldiers or army in fighting formation, phalanx; battle, fighting; group of warships, fleet; (by extension) line or row of bones”) [and other forms], from Old English sċieldtruma (“company of soldiers, phalanx; covering; shed, shelter; tortoise”) [and other forms], from sċield (“shield; (figuratively) protection”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to cut; to separate, split”)) + truma (“band or troop of men”) (possibly from trum (“firm, strong; stable, steadfast”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *drew- (“firm, hard, solid; strong; tree”), *dóru (“tree”)).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʃɛltɹən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: shel‧tron

Noun

sheltron (plural sheltrons) (military, historical)

1. (now chiefly historical) A compact body of troops forming a battle array or phalanx, especially such a body of Scottish troops armed with pikes during the Wars of Scottish Independence in the late 13th and early 14th centuries.
   • [1408, R. Green, “Of the Warlike Weapons of the Ancients”, in Sylvanus Urban [pseudonym], editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, volume XXIX, London: […] D[avid] Henry and R. Cave, […], published 14 November 1759, →OCLC, page 521, column 1:

     The ſheltron of the foremen of the fyrſt ſort, ſhalbe ſet in the ryght corner, and wete thou well that cohort is not ellis but the numbre of fyfty hundred knyghtis, and eṽry legion is ten comportes. Than as I ſaid before, the ſheltron of foremen of the fyrſt cohort, ſhude be ſet in the fyr[ſ]t corner of the ſheldron, and to hem the ſecunde cohort ſhalbe joined. [From an anonymous English translation of Vigetus de re Militari.]]

   • 2022, Thomas Halliday, Otherworlds, Penguin, published 2023, page 12:

     As the group tops a crest, there is a skip of panic among them, and they instinctively cluster around the youngest, a schiltrom of hooves and teeth.

Related terms

• shelter
• shield

Translations

any compact body of troops forming a battle array or phalanx

• Polish: schiltron
• Russian: шилтрон (šiltron)
• Slovak: šiltron
• Ukrainian: шилтрон (šyltron)

Further reading

• schiltron on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• hornlets

Middle English

Noun

sheltron

1. Alternative form of scheltroun