shall: [OE] The etymological meaning of shall is ‘owe’. It goes back to a prehistoric Germanic base *skal-, *skul- which also produced German sollen ‘ought to’ and schuld ‘debt’. Its use in English as an auxiliary verb denoting future time evolved via the intermediate senses ‘ought to, must’ and ‘be to’. The notion of obligation survives in should, which originated as its past tense. => should
shall (v.)
Old English sceal, Northumbrian scule "I owe/he owes, will have to, ought to, must" (infinitive sculan, past tense sceolde), a common Germanic preterite-present verb (along with can, may, will), from Proto-Germanic *skal- (cognates: Old Saxon sculan, Old Frisian skil, Old Norse and Swedish skola, Middle Dutch sullen, Old High German solan, German sollen, Gothic skulan "to owe, be under obligation;" related via past tense form to Old English scyld "guilt," German Schuld "guilt, debt;" also Old Norse Skuld, name of one of the Norns), from PIE root *skel- (2) "to be under an obligation."
Ground sense of the Germanic word probably is "I owe," hence "I ought." The sense shifted in Middle English from a notion of "obligation" to include "futurity." Its past tense form has become should (q.v.). Cognates outside Germanic are Lithuanian skeleti "to be guilty," skilti "to get into debt;" Old Prussian skallisnan "duty," skellants "guilty."
双语例句
1. I shall have words with these stupid friends of mine!
我真应该跟我这些愚蠢的朋友理论理论！
来自柯林斯例句
2. I shall be 26 years old on Friday next.
下周五我就26岁了.
来自柯林斯例句
3. Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.
我实在告诉你们，你们中间有一个人要卖我了。
来自柯林斯例句
4. I know I shall feel for ever in her debt.
我知道我将会永远感激她。
来自柯林斯例句
5. I shall tell you a story about four little rabbits.
