Meaning

noun a support that consists of a horizontal surface for holding objects

noun a projecting ridge on a mountain or submerged under water

originFrom Middle English schelfe, probably from Old English sċylfe, sċilfe (“shelf, ledge, deck of a ship”), from Proto-West Germanic *skilfijā, from Proto-Germanic *skelfō (“shelf, ledge, cliff”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to cut”), distantly related to sculpt, carve and shell. Cognate with Dutch schelf (“hay loft, haystack”), German Low German Schelf (“haystack”), Old Norse skjalf…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0