Old English; earliest use found in Laws of Ine. From church + scat. The some forms probably originally showed s as a spelling for/ʃ/, later reinterpreted as representing/s/. In some forms showing identification of the second element with seed. Compare post-classical Latin circietus, chericsceattum, cherisceattum, chiricsettum, ciricsceattum, curicsceattum, cyricsceattum, cyricsceatum, cherchettum, cherisatum, cherisettum, chersettum, chershettum, chirchettum, chirechetum, chirichetum, chirisetum, chirsetum, churchesectum, churichetum, churicshettum, churschettum, chursettum, shirichetum, cherechsectum, cherichettum, chirssheta, churscettum, churshetum, chisettum.