Shiver
Middle English chivere, perhaps an alteration of dialect chavele ‘to chatter’, from Old English ceafl ‘jaw’.
wiktionary
Origin uncertain, perhaps an alteration of chavel.
From a Germanic word, probably present in Old English though unattested, cognate with Old High German scivaro (German Schiefer(“slate”)).
Origin uncertain
etymonline
shiver (v.1)
"shake," c. 1400, alteration of chiveren (c. 1200), of uncertain origin, perhaps from Old English ceafl "jaw," on notion of chattering teeth. Spelling change of ch- to sh- is probably from influence of shake. Related: Shivered; shivering.
shiver (n.1)
"small piece, splinter, fragment, chip," c. 1200, perhaps from an unrecorded Old English word, related to Middle Low German scheverschiver "splinter," Old High German scivero, from Proto-Germanic *skif- "split" (source also of Old High German skivaro "splinter," German Schiefer "splinter, slate"), from PIE root *skei- "to cut, split." Commonly in phrases to break to shivers "break into bits" (mid-15c.). Also, shiver is still dialectal for "a splinter" in Norfolk and Lincolnshire.
shiver (v.2)
"to break in or into many small pieces," c. 1200, from the source of shiver (n.). Chiefly in phrase shiver me timbers (1835), "a mock oath attributed in comic fiction to sailors" [OED]. My timbers! as a nautical oath (probably euphemistic) is attested from 1789 (see timber (n.)). Related: Shivered; shivering.
shiver (n.2)
"a tremulous, quivering motion," 1727, from shiver (v.1). The shivers in reference to fever chills is from 1861.
