scruple

scruple¹ small unit of weight

Etymology tree of scruple¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin scrūpulus

English scruple

Etymology

The small unit of weight is inherited from Middle English scrupul, earlier also scripil and scriple,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin scrūpulus (“a small weight”), more often scrūpulum and also scrīpulum,^[5][2] perhaps through Anglo-Norman scruple and Old French scrupule, which the Middle English Dictionary names beside the Latin.^[2] Hoad and Ayto also bring in French.^[6][7] Dictionary.com explains scrīpulum as an alteration by association with scrīptum (“writing”).^[8] The OED says that the Latin words for the weight and for the moral scruple² are commonly regarded as the same word, the sense "small weight" being taken from "small pebble".^[5][9] It finds no difficulty in that change of sense, but the relation of the forms with ū to those with ī has not been satisfactorily explained, and some scholars dispute the identity.^[5] On that view it is a diminutive of scrūpus (“a rough or sharp pebble”).^[6][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small weight: the Wycliffite Bible, before 1382, has scripil,^[3] as in Exodus 30:13: A side, that is, a nounce, hath twenti half scripilles.^[11] Merriam-Webster dates the sense to the 14th century,^[4] and the OED's first quotation for the form scruple is from 1564.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Latin the "small stone" was extended to a small part of an ounce, or of any measure,^[12] and in particular to a twenty-fourth of an ounce;^[4][13] Merriam-Webster compares the British stone as a weight, and Weekley calculate and carat.^[12][11] Trevisa, before 1398, already explains the word as a diminutive meaning a little stone, in a passage on weights.^[2] The apothecaries' unit became 20 grains, a third of a dram.^[4][5] From the late 16th century the word also meant any very small quantity,^[5][14] a use Johnson (1755) called proverbial.^[15] It was stretched as well to a sixtieth part in the sexagesimal scale, as of a degree (1610) or an hour (1603),^[5][9][14] and later to a twelfth of an inch (1802).^[5]

Timeline

• before 1382 – scripil, a small weight.^[3][11]
• before 1398 – an apothecaries' weight, in Trevisa.^[2]
• 1564 – the form scruple for the unit of 20 grains.^[5]
• 1574 – a very small quantity.^[5]
• 1603 – the sixtieth part of an hour (obsolete by 1653).^[5]
• 1610 – a sixtieth of a degree, a minute of arc.^[5]
• 1802 – a twelfth of an inch.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A unit of apothecaries' weight equal to 20 grains, a third of a dram.^[13][4][5]
2. An ancient Roman unit of weight, about one twenty-fourth of an ounce.^[13][4]
3. (archaic) A very small quantity.^{[13][14][4][5]}
4. A sixtieth of a degree; a minute of arc.^[5]

scruple² moral doubt

Etymology tree of scruple²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin scrūpulus

English scruple

Etymology

The moral doubt is inherited from Middle English scrupul,^[2][9] borrowed from Old French scrupule,^[9][16][17] Middle French in Merriam-Webster and French in the OED,^[4][5] which is from Latin scrūpulus (“small sharp stone; cause of uneasiness”).^[9][5][4] Barnhart also allows a direct loan from Latin.^[3] It is a diminutive of scrūpus (“a sharp stone”),^[9][5][4][7] which Cicero used figuratively for a cause of anxiety.^[5][9][3] The OED notes that the literal "pebble" is recorded for scrūpulus only in Late Latin.^[5] Etymonline calls scrūpus of unknown etymology,^[9] while Barnhart refers it to Proto-Indo-European *skreup- and Klein and Merriam-Webster connect it with shred.^[3][10][4] On its relation to the Latin word for the weight, see scruple¹.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A pang of conscience: the first Wycliffite Bible, before 1382, renders Latin scrupulum in 1 Kings 25:31 as scripil of herte, where the second version has doute.^[2][11] Etymonline dates the sense to the late 14th century,^[9] Merriam-Webster to the 15th,^[4] and the OED's first quotation is from 1526.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The image is probably of a pebble in one's shoe;^{[3][9][7][12]} Cotgrave glossed the French word as "a little sharp stone .. in a mans shooe".^[17] The plural scruples, now the usual form, is recorded before 1500.^[3] In the 16th century the word covered a doubt of any kind as well as one of conscience: the sense of doubt about a matter of fact is recorded from 1534 to 1744.^[5] Johnson (1755) put first "doubt; difficulty of determination; perplexity", generally about small things.^[15] The verb, formed from the noun, appeared in 1627,^[5][3][4] first in the sense "to hesitate at, to question", now archaic; the current construction, "to hesitate to do something" on grounds of conscience, dates from 1660.^[5][4]

Timeline

• before 1382 – scripil of herte, a moral misgiving.^[2]
• before 1500 – the plural scruples.^[3]
• 1526 – a doubt troubling the conscience, also in the phrase without scruple.^[5]
• 1534 – a doubt about a fact (obsolete by 1744).^[5]
• 1589 – to make scruple, to hesitate on grounds of conscience.^[5]
• 1627 – verb, to have scruples about something.^[5][3][4]
• 1638 – verb, to cause scruples in someone (obsolete by 1689).^[5]
• 1660 – verb, to hesitate to do something.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A moral consideration or feeling of doubt that holds one back from an action; a qualm: She had no scruples about reading his letters.^[13][4][5]
2. Regard for what is right; compunction: They raised the rent without scruple.^[14][5][4]
3. (obsolete, 1534–1744) A doubt or difficulty about a matter of fact.^[5][14]

Verb

1. To hesitate on grounds of conscience; usually in the negative, with an infinitive: He did not scruple to take the credit.^[13][4][5]
2. (archaic) To have scruples about; to demur at.^[4][5]
3. (obsolete, 1641–1848) To doubt or question something.^[4][5]
4. (obsolete, 1638–89) To cause someone to feel scruples.^[4][5]

Word family

• scrupleless
• scrupulosity
• scrupulous
• unscrupulous