It is claimed by some that the word "shit" originates in the sixteenth century, when manure was transported by ship. The dry manure weighed little and was stowed below deck. When mixed with water, however, it gained in weight and began to ferment, producing methane gas, which, when exposed to a naked flame (that of a lantern, for instance), would ignite, causing explosions and fires. Because of these accidents, crates of manure were labeled "Ship High In Transit" to indicate that the crates were to be stowed above the deck, so that any water that the ship took on would not come into contact with them. It was assumed by many that the word "shit" was an acronym derived from this labeling convention. However, this theory has since been discovered to be a complete falsehood that can be traced to an Internet posting in 1999 and that has been perpetrated ever since. The word "shit" is from the Middle English word 'shitten" which in turn derived from the Old English word "scitan," from besciten, which meant "to be covered with excrement" and is in turn thought to originate from the Indo-European root skei. The word can also be traced back to Germanic languages at the time of the Roman Empire. The word "shite," meanwhile, is a variant form of the word that is found in some dialects in Ireland and Scotland, as well as in colloquial English.
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