PGmc. *skōha- ‘shoe’ re-visited

There exist competing etymologies for PGmc. *skōha- ‘shoe’, the most common one being *skōu-ko- ‘covering’ (recently revised to *skouh₃-ko-). This reconstruction suffers from semantic and morphonological problems. It has also been suggested that PGmc. *skōha- is somehow related to PIE *skek- ‘move quickly’. In this paper, support is provided for the latter etymology, interpreting *skōha- as an original vṛddhi-derivative *skṓk-o- ‘of/enabling fast moving’ (← *skók-o- ‘fast moving’). PGmc. *skōha- underwent irregular phonological evolution in Scandinavian, where its root vowel *ō was raised to ū in some of the plural forms. This irregular raising is interpreted as having been dissimilatory, triggered by the regular lowering of the unstressed *ō in the ending to a. Several phonological parallels to this raising are adduced and discussed.