I hope you had an opportunity to warm milk in that skillet, Father Steve.
From Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, W.W. Skeat:
SKILLET (1) a small pot. (Scand; with F. suffix.) … skele is the same as the prov. E. skeel, a milk-pail, a diary-vessel (see E.D.D.). From this word we have the dimin. skillet, a little pot or pan, also still in use. …. The mod. E. ee (ME. e) answers to AS, eo and Icel. jo; hence the derivation is from Icel. skjola, a pail, bucket, of which Vigfusson notes that it is the same as “the North E. and Scot. skeel or skeil, a milk-pan. Skillet (also skellet) is a diminutive; the F dimin suffix –et may easily have been suggested (as Prof Weekley says) by association with the word posnet, also a dialectal word with the sense of “iron pot” or “saucepan.”
I noticed a second skillet in this dictionary. Variously spelled “skillet” and “skellat”, it seems that it means “a little bell”, and derives from OF esquilette -> eschelette, a little handbell.
Oddly, both terms have connections to Icelandic. The handbell skillet connects to Icel. skella, a rattle to scare horses, skella, to clash; allied to the Icel. Strong verb skjalla, AS. scellan, to resound, clash.
