escape

Etymology

Recorded from c. 1300.^[1] From Middle English escapen,^[2][3] borrowed from Old Northern French escaper (Central Old French eschaper, modern French échapper),^[4][1] from Vulgar Latin *excappāre (“to get out of one’s cape”),^[2][1] from Latin ex- “out of” + Late Latin cappa (“cloak”).^[2][4] The image is of leaving a pursuer holding only one’s cape.^[1]

The OED notes the early aphetic form scape, still used as a poetic archaism (often written ’scape).^[4] Compare escapade.^[5]

References

1. [1] [2] [3] [4] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
2. [1] [2] [3] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. [1] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. [1] [2] [3] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. [1] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org