August 6, 1996

skirt

What is the origin of the word skirt, used as a verb, as in "skirting the issue?" Does it in any way derive from the clothing?

Yes, it does. Like many words, one meaning is built on a number of figurative senses which are each clear, but the relationship of the final meaning to the original meaning is not clear if you don't know the intervening steps.

In this case, the original meaning of skirt is still the most common: 'the part of a dress or similar garment that extends downward from the waist; (hence) a one-piece garment extending downward from the waist, worn esp. by women and girls'. An important figurative extension of this is 'the outlying or bordering parts of anything; border; boundary', which itself has a number of specific subsenses. Then, from this, we saw the development of skirt as a verb, meaning 'to form or lie along the border of', as in "The hills skirt the town." Next, there developed the sense 'to pass along the border or edge of (something)': "Traffic skirted the park." Finally, this generated a figurative sense 'to avoid or keep distant from (something potentially difficult or controversial)', which is your example "skirting the issue." And there you have it.

Skirt is from Middle English, first appearing around 1300. It is a borrowing from an Old Norse word that is cognate with our word shirt. The sense 'border' appeared by the fifteenth century, and the various verb senses by the seventeenth century.