Etymologically
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scando

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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
  • 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