scando

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈskan.doː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈskan.do]^[1]

Forms

scandō (present infinitive scandere, perfect active scandī, supine scānsum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *skand-e/o- (“to ascend”), from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to jump up, ascend”).^[2][1] Cognate with Sanskrit स्कन्दति (skándati, “jumps, spurts”) and Old Irish sceinnid (“jumps”), and perhaps with Oscan esskazsiúm.^[2][3] scālae “ladder” is from *skand-slā-.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato uses it.^[2] Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was to climb something steep, to mount or scale, as Livy's climbing onto the rampart, and to climb into a bed or seat.^[3][6] Of things it was to rise, of buildings and hills to slope upward, and of a person to advance in years.^[3] Döderlein says it is climbing with effort, with hands and feet, against ascendō.^[7]

In Late Latin grammarians it was to scan a verse by its feet.^[3][1] English scan comes from this sense.^[4] The noun scāla “ladder” gave scale “series of marks”.^[4] Its compounds gave ascend and descend.^[4]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of climbing a rampart.^[6][5]
• late 14th century – English scan is recorded of verse.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To climb, mount, ascend.^[3][8]
2. To climb into (a bed, a seat).^[3]
3. To rise; to slope upward.^[3]
4. (Late Latin) To scan (verse).^[3][1]

Word family

• ascendō
• cōnscendō
• dēscendō
• escendō
• īnscendō
• scansilis
• scansiō
• scansōrius
• superscandō
• trānscendō
• suprascandō
• exscendō

Related words

• scālae
• English scan
• English scale

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press