scopus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈskɔ.pʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈskɔː.pus]^[1]

Forms

scopus m (genitive scopī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek σκοπός (skopós, “watcher; mark, aim”), from the root of σκέπτομαι (sképtomai, “to look at”), Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (“to observe”).^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short and Gaffiot cite Suetonius, of Domitian shooting arrows at a boy's outspread hand as a target, though the reading is doubtful.^[2][4] Köbler dates Suetonius c. 75–c. 150 AD.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It was a goal, a target, as in Suetonius, and figuratively an aim, as in Cassian.^[2][4] Cicero has the Greek word in a letter.^[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant aim, objective, target, goal, scope.^[6] British Medieval Latin took it for “one who sees”.^[7] Through Italian scopo “aim” it gave English scope in the 1530s, first “room to act”.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it.^[2][5]
• 1530s – English scope is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A target, mark, (figurative) an aim, goal.^[2][4][6]

Related words

• English scope

Usage notes

A different word, scōpus “the stalk of a cluster of grapes”, is found only in Varro, and the OLD compares scōpae “twigs, broom”, and Gaffiot reads the passage as a form of scōpiō.^[8][4]

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 c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press