scandalum

Forms

scandalum n (genitive scandalī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek σκάνδαλον (skándalon, “trap; cause of moral stumbling”).^[1][2][3] Etymonline notes that the Greek noun in this form is first found in the Septuagint and the New Testament, where it renders a Hebrew word for a noose or snare, and takes it to be an old word for a trap.^[4] Beekes thinks it was originally a technical term, perhaps for a piece of wood hung on ropes that could serve both as a trap and as an acrobat's bar, since its derivative σκανδαλιστής (skandalistḗs) means an acrobat.^[5] It is often connected with scandō (“to climb”) and Sanskrit स्कन्दति (skándati, “to jump, hop, hurry”), but Beekes finds that connection arbitrary in meaning and unable to explain the Greek ⟨α⟩, and thinks a Pre-Greek origin likely.^[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tertullian is the first to use it, of an inducement to sin, a cause of offence.^[2][6][7][3]

Semantic evolution

The word belongs to Christian Latin.^[2][8] Prudentius uses it in the literal sense, a stone on which one stumbles,^[2][6][7] and the Vulgate has it in the Psalms and in the First Letter of John.^[2] Bede explains that scandalum is a Greek word, which Latin can render as offendiculum, a stumbling or tripping of the foot.^[9] Aldhelm still uses it of a snare: in his riddle Muriceps (“mouse-catcher”), the speaker silently lays scandala mortis for hated thieves.^[9]

Medieval Latin widened it from the cause of sin to displeasure, indignation and hatred, and then to discord, quarrels, fights, acts of violence and evil designs.^[10][3] Du Cange quotes Papias' gloss of it as a brawl or quarrel.^[11] It also meant disgrace or loss of good name, and insult or slander.^[9][10] Thomas Aquinas defines it as anything said or done that leads another into spiritual ruin, and distinguishes a bodily from a spiritual scandalum.^[12]

English had scandle in the Ancrene Riwle, from Old French and Latin, but the modern word scandal is likely a new borrowing of the 1580s from French scandale.^[4] English slander goes back to the same Latin word, through Old French esclandre.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of a temptation to sin.^[2][3]
• 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it of a stumbling stone.^[2][6][3]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in the Psalms and in the First Letter of John.^[2][3]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it of snares in a riddle.^[9][3]
• 796 – Alcuin, in a letter, hopes that his disorderly life will not cause scandalum to the religious life of those he writes to.^[9]
• c. 1200 – English scandle appears in the Ancrene Riwle.^[4]
• 1580s – English borrows scandal from French.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A stumbling block, something one trips over; a trap, snare.^{[2][6][10][1]}
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A cause of offence, an inducement to sin, temptation.^{[2][6][10][13]}
3. (Medieval Latin) Displeasure, indignation; an object of displeasure or anger.^[10][3]
4. (Medieval Latin) Discord, hatred; a quarrel, strife, a fight.^[10][11][3]
5. (Medieval Latin) An outrage; an evil design.^[10]
6. (Medieval Latin) Scandal, disgrace, loss of good name; slander.^[10][9][1]

Word family

• scandalizō

Related words

• English scandal
• English slander

Usage notes

Köbler lists a separate medieval scandalum “staircase”, from scandō.^[3] Du Cange's second scandalum, in the Burgundian law code, is a misreading of scandula “shingle”.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b 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
6. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e f Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
11. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
12. ^ Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh
13. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson