escalada

Forms

escalada f (plural escaladas)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish escalar + -ada: Corominas and Segura Munguía list it among the derivatives of escala, beside escalar and escalador.^[2][3][4] Wiktionary instead takes it from French escalade, itself from Italian scalata.^[1] The DHLF dates the French word to 1456 and derives it from Old Provençal, from a verb meaning “to scale”.^[5] Echegaray compares Catalan escalada with the French and Italian words.^[6]

The verb is recorded from 1438 and its base from 1490.^[3] The base continues Latin scala (“rung; ladder; stairs”), which was usually plural in Latin.^[2] Nocentini derives the Latin word from *scand-slā, from scandō (“to climb”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record of the noun is in Pero López de Ayala's Rimado de Palacio (1378–1406, in a mid-15th-century copy), in the sense “ladder”: a ladder may be so long that it is of no use.^[8] Corominas thinks this passage, written in prison, may be a personal Portuguesism of the author, so that a shared Castilian and Portuguese innovation escalada “ladder” is not proven.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “ladder” is now obsolete.^[9][10] The military sense, an assault with ladders, is dated to 1604 by Corominas.^[3] Autoridades defines it as entering a place with ladders, climbing the walls of a city or entering a house by a window.^[11] The Academy defined it as the storming of a fortress with ladders from 1817.^[12] Since 1884 it has defined it as the action of scaling.^[13] In the Americas a record of 1689 from Tucumán speaks of asaltos de escalada.^[14]

The sense of climbing a slope or a great height followed, and now names the sport.^[9][15][1] The sense “rapid and alarming increase” of prices, crime or arms is recorded from 1975 in Argentina (la escalada de violencia) and 1984 in Mexico.^[14][9][16]

Timeline

• 1288 – the place name San Miguel de Escalada occurs in a charter (not the noun).^[8]
• 1378–1406 – first record, “ladder”, in the Rimado de Palacio.^[8][2]
• 1604 – the sense “assault with ladders”.^[3][4]
• 1689 – first record of the military sense in the Americas, in Tucumán.^[14]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades defines it as entering a place by ladders.^[11]
• 1817 – the Academy defines it as an assault on a fortress with ladders.^[12]
• 1975 – the sense “escalation” in Argentina.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of scaling a fortress with ladders.^[9]
2. climbing: the act of climbing a slope or to a great height, and the sport: Este verano hicimos escalada en los Picos de Europa.^[9][1]
3. A rapid and usually alarming increase of something, such as prices, crime, spending or arms; an escalation.^[9][1]
4. (obsolete) A ladder (escala).^[9]

Related words

• escala
• escalar
• escalera
• escalón
• French escalade

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 665
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. escala
4. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 7
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. escalade
6. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 179
7. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. scala
8. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. escalada
9. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. escalada
10. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 466
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 549
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 375
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 445
14. ^ a b c d Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. escalada
15. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. escalada
16. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. escalada