Etymologically
Log in

scalp

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 11:40. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English scalp, a northern Middle English word,[2][3][1] probably borrowed from a Scandinavian language,[2][4][5][6][3] although the English senses are not found in any Scandinavian or other Germanic language.[2][3] The dictionaries compare Old Norse skálpr (“sheath”), dialectal Danish skalp (“shell, husk”), Middle Low German schulpe and Middle Dutch schelpe (“shell”), now schelp,[2][3][7][8] and probably Old High German scala (“husk”).[9][7] Etymonline also relates it to skalli (“a bald head”) and to Proto-Indo-European *skel- (“to cut”), the base of shell, skull and scallop.[10] The OED notes that the sense of these words suggests the Germanic base of scale, but that no Germanic suffix in -p is known;[2] Ayto likewise traces it to the Germanic base of shell and probably of skull.[6] Weekley took it as a contraction of scallop, and Partridge thought this possible.[11][12] The word is recorded as a surname from about 1200.[10][7] The word, in the sense of a trophy, passed into scalpe, Skalp and skalp.[2][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The top or crown of the head; the skull: before 1300, in the Early English Psalter.[2][11] Barnhart dates it to about 1340[7] and Etymonline to the mid 14th century.[10]

Semantic evolution

The original sense, the top of the head or the skull, now survives only in Scottish and northern dialect, in forms such as scaup and scap;[2][13][9] the Wright dialect dictionary records it in Scotland, Ireland and much of northern and eastern England.[13] The skin covering the top of the head is recorded from 1616, in Bullokar's English Expositor,[2] and Ayto puts this sense in the 17th century;[6] Weekley thought it grew out of the "hairy scalp" of Coverdale's psalms.[11] Barnhart and Etymonline find the scalp cut off as a battle trophy already in Holland's translation of Pliny (1601),[7][10][2] and in reference to Indigenous North Americans from the 1670s.[10] In America the skin of an animal's head kept as proof of its killing, usually to claim a bounty, is recorded from 1703,[2][10] and the figurative use, a scalp as the symbol of a victory, from 1759 in the OED and 1757 in Etymonline.[2][10] The verb, to cut off someone's scalp, followed in 1676.[2][9][7] Its later uses include stripping off turf or topsoil (1806, in Scottish dialect), separating grain in milling (1883), buying cheap on the stock market in order to sell below the official rate (1886) and removing the surface layer of metal (1922).[2] Green's Dictionary of Slang records scalp for reselling railway and theatre tickets above their face value from 1889,[14] and Barnhart dates the slang scalper, a ticket reseller, to 1869.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – as a surname.[10][7]
  • before 1300 – the top of the head, the skull.[2]
  • 1601 – a scalp taken as a battle trophy, in Holland's Pliny.[2][7]
  • 1616 – the skin covering the top of the head.[2]
  • 1676 – verb, to cut off the scalp of.[2][9]
  • 1703 – in America, an animal's head-skin kept as proof of killing.[2]
  • 1721 – in Scots, a bare rock standing out of water or vegetation.[2]
  • 1759 – figuratively, a symbol of victory.[2]
  • 1886 – verb, on the stock market, to buy cheap so as to sell below official rates.[2]
  • 1889 – verb, to resell tickets above face value.[14]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The skin covering the top of the head, usually with hair growing on it.[15][9][2]
  2. Part of this skin with its hair, cut or torn from an enemy's head as a trophy, a practice associated with some Indigenous peoples of North America.[15][9][2]
  3. A token or symbol of a victory or conquest: The young team wanted the champions' scalp.[15][2]
  4. Chiefly in the US, a piece of skin from an animal's head kept as proof of its killing, to claim a bounty.[15][2]
  5. In Scottish dialect, a bare piece of rock standing out of water or vegetation.[15][2]
  6. Chiefly Scottish, the skull or the head.[9][2]
  7. Informal, chiefly US, a small profit made by quick buying and selling.[15]

Verb

  1. To cut or tear the scalp from.[9][15][2]
  2. To remove a top layer from, as turf from land or the surface from metal.[9][2]
  3. Informal, to resell tickets at a price above their face value.[14][7]

Word family

  • scalper
  • scalpless
  • scalp lock

Usage notes

A separate verb scalp, to cut, engrave or scrape, was borrowed from Latin scalpō and used from 1552 to 1802;[2][16] Etymonline holds that the likeness of the noun to this Latin verb is accidental.[10] A dialect noun scalp, an oyster or mussel bed, recorded from 1521, may be a special use of the same word, though its forms suggest a different origin.[2][16]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  11. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  13. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  14. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  15. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  16. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press