Editing Shire (section)

==Etymology==
{{Multiple image
 | image1            = Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - scire (British Library Cotton MS Tiberius A VI, folio 11v).jpg
 | width1            = 170
 | alt1              = Handwritten word "scire"
 | image2            = Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - scira (British Library Cotton MS Tiberius A VI, folio 9v).jpg
 | width2            = 150
 | alt2              = Handwritten word "scira"
 | footer            = The ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' mentions locations ending or beginning with 'scire' or 'scira'.
}}

The word ''shire'' derives from the [[Old English language|Old English]] {{lang|ang|sċir}}, from the [[Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic]] {{lang|gem-x-proto|skizo}} ({{langx|goh|scira}}), denoting an 'official charge' a 'district under a governor', and a 'care'.<ref>{{OEtymD|Shire|accessdate=2021-07-18}}</ref> In the UK, ''shire'' became synonymous with ''[[county]]'', an administrative term introduced to England through the [[Norman Conquest]] in the later part of the eleventh century. In contemporary British usage, the word ''counties'' also refers to shires, mainly in places such as [[Shire Hall]].<ref>''The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology'' (1991) C.T. Onions, Ed., p. 821.</ref>

In regions with [[Rhoticity in English|rhotic]] pronunciation, such as [[Scotland]], the word ''shire'' is pronounced {{IPAc-en|ʃ|aɪər}}; in areas of non-rhotic pronunciation, the final ''R'' is silent, unless the next word begins in a vowel sound. In England and Wales, when ''shire'' is a place-name suffix, the vowel is unstressed and usually shortened ([[monophthongized]]); the pronunciations include {{IPAc-en|ʃ|ər}} and {{IPAc-en|ʃ|ɪər}}, with the final ''R'' pronunciation depending on rhoticity. The vowel is normally reduced to a single [[schwa]], as in ''[[Leicestershire]]'' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|ɛ|s|t|ər|ʃ|ər}} or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|ɛ|s|t|ər|ʃ|ɪər}} and ''[[Berkshire]]'' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|ɑːr|k|ʃ|ər}} or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|ɑːr|k|ʃ|ɪər}}.<ref>''The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology'' (1991) C.T. Onions, Ed., p. 821.</ref>