also skol, Scandinavian toasting word, c.1600, from Danish skaal "a toast," literally "bowl, cup," from Old Norse skal "bowl, drinking vessel," originally a cup made from a shell, from Proto-Germanic *skelo, from PIE *(s)kel- (1) "to cut" (see shell, n.). The word first appears in Scottish English, and may have been connected to the visit of James VI of Scotland to Denmark in 1589.