scapus

Forms

scāpus m (genitive scāpī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[2][3][4] De Vaan treats it under scōpae (“twigs, broom”), from Proto-Italic *skōp-ā-: the Latin word may be borrowed from Ancient Greek σκᾶπος (skâpos, “stick”), a word known from Hesychius, but de Vaan holds that the forms with ⟨scōp-⟩ must be older, and that both could go back to ablaut within a root Proto-Indo-European *sk(e/o)h₂p-, though no verb of that shape is attested.^[2] The words might also be borrowings, perhaps independent ones.^[2] He compares σκήπτομαι (skḗptomai, “to support oneself”), Latvian šķèps (“spear, javelin”), Old High German skaft (“shaft”) and Old Norse skapt (“shaft”).^[2]

The OLD and Lewis & Short give it as native, comparing Ancient Greek σκῆπτρον (skêptron, “staff, sceptre”) and English shaft;^[3][5] Lewis & Short set up a root ⟨skap-⟩ and add scīpiō and scamnum.^[3][5] Beekes equates the Greek noun with the Latin one and with Albanian shkop (“stick, sceptre”), which point to Proto-Indo-European *skeh₂p-o-, with a zero grade in the Germanic words for a shaft; he adds that the spread of the forms and their meanings rather suggest a European substrate.^[4][1] Köbler compares the root Proto-Indo-European *skā̆p- (“to cut, split”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro is the first author: he explains that vetch, which has tendrils like a vine, climbs by winding them around the stalk of a lupine.^[3][2][6]

Semantic evolution

From the stalk of a plant it passed to many straight upright or lengthwise pieces.^[3][7] Pliny the Elder uses it of the stem of a candelabrum and of the cylinder on which the sheets of papyrus were rolled, and Varro too has the papyrus cylinder.^[3][5] In Vitruvius it is the shaft of a column, the upright of a door frame on which the door turns, the string of a staircase, the shaft of a ladder and the beam of a steelyard;^[3][5][8] Festus also has the steelyard beam.^[3][5] Lucretius names scapī among the parts of a loom, perhaps the rods that hold the leashes.^[3][9] The Historia Augusta uses it of the shaft of a lance,^[7][10] and Augustine, in the City of God, of the male member.^[5][8][10]

In British medieval sources it is the stem of a plant and the arm of a cross.^[11] English took scape “shaft, stem” in botany around 1600.^[12]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of the stalk of a lupine.^[3][6]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius names it among the parts of a loom.^[3][6]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of the shaft of a column and of other uprights.^[3][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of the cylinder for papyrus and the stem of a candelabrum.^[3][6]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of the male member.^[5][6]
• c. 1600 – English borrows scape as a botanical term.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The stalk or stem of a plant, especially a long straight one.^[3][5][7]
2. The main stem of a candelabrum.^[3][5]
3. The shaft of a column.^[3][5]
4. The upright of a door frame, on which the door hangs.^[3][5]
5. The string of a staircase; the shaft of a ladder.^[3][8]
6. The beam of a steelyard or balance.^[3][5]
7. The cylinder on which a papyrus is rolled.^[3][5]
8. Part of a loom, perhaps one of the rods holding the leashes.^[3][5]
9. (Late Latin) The shaft of a lance.^[7][10]
10. (Late Latin) The male member.^[5][8]
11. (Medieval Latin) The arm of a cross.^[11]

Word family

• grandiscāpius

Related words

• scōpa
• scīpiō
• English scape

References

1. ^ a b 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 i j k l m n o p q r s t u Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ Simpson, D. P. (1959), Cassell's New Latin Dictionary, London: Cassell
10. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b 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
12. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com