scandula

Forms

scandula f (genitive scandulae); first declension^[1] The later form scindula was made as if from scindō “to split”.^[2][3]

Etymology

The OLD calls the origin doubtful.^[4] Lewis & Short and Köbler derive it from scandō “to climb”, the shingles rising like steps one above another; de Vaan traces ⟨scandō⟩ to Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to jump up”).^[2][5][6] Wiktionary instead derives it from Proto-Indo-European *sked- (“to split”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short and Köbler cite Hirtius, in the eighth book of Caesar's Gallic War.^[2][5] Köbler dates Hirtius about 50 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It was a wooden shingle for roofing, mostly in the plural, as in Hirtius, Vitruvius, Pliny the Elder and Columella.^[4][2]

Late Latin scindula was borrowed into Old English as scindel, the source of English shingle, and into German Schindel.^[7] It survives in Italian scandola and Romanian scândură “plank”.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 50 BC – Hirtius uses it.^[2][5]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it.^[2][5]
• late Old English – scindel “shingle” is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wooden shingle for roofing.^[4]

Word family

• scandulāca
• scandulāris
• scandulārius

Related words

• scandō
• scindō
• English shingle

Usage notes

A second scandula, a kind of grain, appears in Diocletian's price edict and in Isidore, who explains the name by its being split in two.^[3][8] Spanish escanda “spelt” continues it.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).