scissor

Forms

scissor m (genitive scissōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin scindō (“to cut, tear”) + -tor, formed on the supine stem ⟨sciss-⟩.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Petronius is the first to use it,^[3][2] for the carver who, at Trimalchio's order, cuts up the dish in time to music.^[2]

Semantic evolution

An inscription uses it as the name of a type of gladiator, otherwise unknown.^[2][4] In medieval British Latin it was a cutter of meat or of stone, and above all a cutter of cloth, a tailor.^[5][1] Etymonline notes that the spelling of English scissors with sc- (from the 16th century) comes from the influence of Medieval Latin scissor “tailor”, though scissors itself comes from a different Latin source.^[6]

Timeline

• before 66 AD – Petronius uses it for the carver at Trimalchio's dinner.^[2][3]
• 1217 – The Close Rolls use cissor for a tailor.^[5]
• 1221 – An English account uses cissor lapidum for a stone-cutter.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A carver of meat at table.^[2][4]
2. A kind of gladiator.^[2][4]
3. (Medieval Latin) A cutter of stone.^[5]
4. (Medieval Latin) A tailor.^[5][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e 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
6. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com