escotilla

Forms

escotilla f (plural escotillas)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain; the DLE says only that.^[2][3] The word is shared with Portuguese escotilha, French écoutille and English scuttle.^[4]

Corominas thinks it perhaps borrowed from Middle French escoutille, a back-formation from escoutillon, and that this is formed on écouter (“to listen”), from Latin auscultō, because hatches were used to overhear the crew below.^[4][3] Rabelais compares the trapdoor of heaven, through which the gods listen to the earth, to that of a ship.^[4][3] He argues that the Spanish ending -illa does not prove a Castilian origin, since the form Middle English skottelle of 1497 means the word reached France early in the 15th century, when the Castilian navy was too small to spread its terms; the Spanish variants escuta and escutilla with ⟨u⟩ seem to him a further sign of the French source.^[4]

He rejects a derivation from escotar or escote, the neckline, which is recorded much later, and Le Duchat's Latin scutella (“dish”), whose /t/ and /o/ the Romance forms would not keep.^[4] The DHLF takes the opposite view: the French word was borrowed in 1538 from Spanish, where it is a derivative of the verb meaning “to cut a neckline”, which may come from Old Norse skaut (“edge of a garment”).^[5] Wiktionary traces that verb to Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍄𐍃 (skauts, “edge of a garment”).^[6] García de Diego and Alemany's 1917 dictionary derive the Spanish word from English.^[7][8] The Academy's 1884 dictionary derived it from French.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Gutierre Díaz de Games's Victorial (1431–1449, in a copy of the late 15th or early 16th century): in a storm the crew go below and hecharon las escotillas “closed the hatches”.^[10][4] There, and in an example of 1567, the word names the board or cover that closes the opening.^[4]

Semantic evolution

By the early 16th century the word named the opening itself: Alonso de Chaves, about 1527, describes escotillas as trapdoors in the decks that are raised and lowered.^[10] In 1573 Eugenio de Salazar punned on escotillas and escotillones, saying that those who pass through them pay dearly for their comfort.^[10][11] Autoridades in 1726 defined it as the door in front of the mainmast through which cargo is loaded.^[12] The Academy's 1899 edition widened this to each of the openings in a ship's decks, and today the word also applies to aircraft and tanks.^[13][2][14]

Timeline

• 1431–1449 – first record, in the Victorial.^[10][4]
• c. 1500 – Portuguese escotilha in the commentaries of Albuquerque.^[4]
• c. 1527 – Alonso de Chaves defines escotillas in his manual of navigation.^[10]
• 1538 – French escoutille first recorded.^[4][5]
• 1587 – the derivative escotillón in García de Palacio, and escotilla in Mexico.^[3][11]
• 1726 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records it as a nautical word.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from French écoutille.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (nautical) A hatch: an opening in the deck of a ship, or in the body of an aircraft or tank, that leads to the space inside: Cerraron la escotilla antes de la tormenta.^[2][14][1]

Word family

• escotillón

Related words

• Portuguese escotilha
• French écoutille

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. escotilla
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. escotilla
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 710
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. écoutille
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. escotilla
8. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 701
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 451
10. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. escotilla
11. ^ a b 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. escotilla
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 571
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 417
14. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. escotilla