scorpion

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English scorpioun, early scorpiun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French scorpion, also escorpiun and Anglo-Norman scorpiun,^[5][2][6] and directly borrowed from Latin scorpiō (“scorpion”),^[3][2] an extended form of scorpius,^[5][7][8] from Ancient Greek σκορπίος (skorpíos, “scorpion”).^[5][7][3][8] Old English had already used scorpion in the Lindisfarne gloss on the Gospels.^[9][2] Dictionary.com compares the Latin extension with names of small creatures such as pāpiliō (“butterfly”).^[10] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from the first third of the 12th century, for the animal, the constellation and a dart-throwing war machine.^[6] The Greek word is of disputed origin: Etymonline and Merriam-Webster trace it to Proto-Indo-European *sker- (“to cut”), the root of shear,^[7][11] but Barnhart thinks it was probably borrowed from a Mediterranean language,^[3] and Beekes argues that the Indo-Europeans, living north of the Black Sea, had no word for the scorpion, so the Greeks must have taken theirs from another language.^[12] Klein connected it, after Schott, with the Hebrew word for scorpion.^[4] The word passed into all the Germanic languages, as Old High German scorpjo, Middle Dutch schorpe and later Dutch schorpioen and German Skorpion.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The animal, with allusions to its fabled habits and in figurative use: about 1225, in the Ancrene Riwle,^[5] which Barnhart dates probably before 1200.^[3][13]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the scorpion stood for a treacherous person,^[7] and the Ancrene Riwle already uses it figuratively.^[5] Chaucer, who uses the word eleven times, applied it also to the constellation and zodiac sign Scorpio, first in the House of Fame (about 1384).^[5][14][7] The Wycliffite Bible of 1382 rendered the "scorpions" of 1 Kings 12:11, a symbol of harsh oppression; from that passage the word was later taken as the name of a whip or instrument of torture (1541).^[5][15][16] Later the name was given to animals that resemble a scorpion or are confused with it, such as the pseudoscorpions (1709);^[5][7] the Century Dictionary noted that in the United States some harmless lizards and skinks were called scorpions.^[7] In Australia and America it also names spiny fishes of the scorpionfish family (1874).^[5] Weekley records the soldiers' name rock scorpions for natives of Gibraltar.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1225 – the arachnid, also figuratively, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[5]
• 1382 – the scorpions of 1 Kings 12:11, in the Wycliffite Bible.^[5]
• c. 1384 – the constellation Scorpio, in Chaucer's House of Fame.^[5]
• 1541 – a supposed ancient instrument of torture.^[5]
• 1709 – other animals resembling the scorpion.^[5]
• 1874 – in Australia and America, a scorpionfish.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. An arachnid of warm, dry regions with a pair of large pincers and a long segmented tail ending in a venomous sting.^[18][11][5]
2. Any of various animals that resemble a scorpion, such as the pseudoscorpion or the whip scorpion.^[18][5]
3. the Scorpion: the constellation and zodiac sign Scorpio.^[18][5]
4. A whip or scourge, after 1 Kings 12:11; also a medieval weapon.^[5][19]
5. A spiny fish of the scorpionfish family.^[5][19]

Word family

• pseudoscorpion
• scorpionfly
• scorpionfish
• book scorpion
• sea scorpion
• water scorpion
• whip scorpion

Related words

• Scorpio
• scorpioid

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Cook, Albert S. (1894), A Glossary of the Old Northumbrian Gospels, Halle: Niemeyer
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
14. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
15. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
16. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
17. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
18. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
19. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press