† scrinen.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman escrine, Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French escrin box, chest, or coffer in which valuables are kept (11th cent. in Rashi), reliquary, shrine (late 14th cent.; French écrin now chiefly in the specific sense ‘jewel case’) < classical Latin scrīnium receptacle for letters or papers, writing case, case for papyrus rolls, similar receptacle for other things, in post-classical Latin also reliquary (frequently from 12th cent. in British and continental sources), of uncertain origin. The unstressed initial vowel was lost in English (or perhaps already in French). In early use sometimes difficult to distinguish from earlier shrine n. (compare variant readings in quots. a1350, a1400), an early borrowing of the same Latin word into Germanic languages.With the β. forms compare post-classical Latin screnum , screnium box, receptacle (from 13th cent. in British sources) and Anglo-Norman escrene book box (13th cent. or earlier), and also similar forms in other Germanic languages (see the etymological note at shrine n.). In Latin and French these forms may reflect influence of the etymons of screen n.¹; in the Germanic languages their stem vowel is unexplained.