scale English · revision 3013

+ English has three main words spelled ''scale'': the plate on a fish's skin, the pan of a balance, and a series of steps or degrees.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Cresswell 2021) The first two share a Germanic root and are related to [[shell]]; the third is from Latin scāla “ladder”.^(Cresswell 2021)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /skeɪl/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ {{homograph|1|plate}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1300|origins=ine-pro *skel-}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|scale]],^(MWU 2024) [[bor|fro|escale|t=cup, shell, pod, husk]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[m|frk|*skala]] or another Germanic source,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[gem-pro|*skēlō|alt=*skæla]], “to split, divide”,^(Etymonline) the source also of Old High German scala “shell”, Gothic skalja “tile” and Old English scealu “shell, husk”,^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from [[ine-pro|*skel-|t=to cut]].^(Etymonline) The verb, “to remove scales”, is from the noun.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A thin hard plate on the skin of a fish or snake: about 1300, in the romance ''Guy of Warwick'',^(Barnhart 1988) the early 14th century in the OED.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Of human skin diseases it is from the late 14th century, and in botany, of the coverings of leaf buds, by 1776.^(Etymonline) The scales that fall from one's eyes, usually figurative, echo Acts 9:18.^(Etymonline) The verb meant “to scrape, remove infected parts” before 1425 and “to remove the scales from” in 1440.^(Barnhart 1988) “To come off in thin layers” is from the 1520s.^(Etymonline) ''Scaly'' is from before 1398.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1300 – a scale of a fish.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * late 14th century – of skin diseases.^(Etymonline)

+ * before 1398 – ''scaly''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1440 – verb, to remove scales.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1520s – to flake off.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1776 – in botany.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # One of the small hard plates covering the skin of [[fish]], [[reptile|alt=reptiles]] and some mammals.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A similar part, as on the wings of butterflies or covering a leaf bud.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # A flake of dry skin; a crust or deposit, as of [[limescale]] or tartar.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To remove the scales or a coating from.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To come off in thin layers.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[scaly]]

+ * [[scaling]]

+ * [[descale]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|balance}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1200, Ancrene Riwle|origins=non skál}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|scale]], scole,^(MWU 2024) [[bor|non|skál|t=bowl, drinking cup; in the plural, weighing scales]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) cognate with Old Saxon skāla “cup”, Dutch schaal and German Schale “bowl”.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) It comes from a noun derived from [[gem-pro|*skēlō|alt=*skæla]], “to split”, and is related to Old Norse skel “shell”.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The connecting idea seems to be half of a split shell used as a cup or as a pan for weighing;^(Etymonline) Paulus Diaconus, however, linked the “cup” sense to a supposed custom of making goblets from skulls.^(Etymonline) The verb, “to weigh”, is from the noun.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A drinking cup or bowl: probably before 1200, in the ''Ancrene Riwle'',^(Barnhart 1988) about 1200 in Etymonline and about 1205 in the OED.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The “cup” sense probably passed to the pans of a balance (late 14th century),^(Cresswell 2021)^(Etymonline) and the name was then extended to the whole weighing instrument in the early 15th century.^(Etymonline) The “cup” sense survives in South African English.^(Cresswell 2021)^(OED 1989) ''The Scales'', the sign Libra, is from 1631.^(OED 1989) ''To turn the scale'' is from about 1440,^(OED 1989) and ''to hold the scales even'', “to judge fairly”, from 1648.^(OED 1989) The verb meant “to weigh” from the 1690s,^(Etymonline) the 17th century in Hoad.^(Hoad 1986) In Yorkshire dialect a ''scale'' was formerly a drinking cup.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1200 – a drinking cup.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1375 – the pan of a balance.^(OED 1989)

+ * early 15th century – a weighing instrument.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1631 – the sign Libra.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1690s – verb, to weigh.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An instrument for [[weigh|alt=weighing]], often in the plural: ''bathroom scales''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Either pan of a [[balance]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To weigh, or to have a certain weight.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[scales]]

+ * [[Libra]]

+

+ {{homograph|3|series}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1391, Chaucer|origins=la scālae}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|scāla|t=ladder, flight of stairs]], usually plural scālae,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from *scansla, from the stem of [[m|la|scandere|t=to climb]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) the source of [[scan]], from [[ine-pro|*skand-|t=to spring, leap, climb]].^(Etymonline) The musical sense and the sense “proportion of a map” came through [[m|it|scala]].^(Etymonline) The verb, “to climb with a ladder”, is from the noun.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A series of marks along a line for measuring: 1391, in Chaucer's ''Treatise on the Astrolabe''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) The verb, “to climb a wall by a ladder”, is from about 1380.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Middle English also had ''scale'', “ladder used in sieges”, about 1400.^(Etymonline) The musical sense, a fixed series of tones, is from the 1590s,^(Etymonline) 1597 in Barnhart,^(Barnhart 1988) and the general sense “a series of steps or degrees” from about 1600.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) A standard of measurement or estimation, as in ''on a large scale'', is in Bacon's ''Sylva Sylvarum'' (1626),^(Barnhart 1988) and the proportion of a map to what it shows from 1662.^(Barnhart 1988) The verb came to mean “to climb” in general before 1425,^(Barnhart 1988) “to measure by a scale” in 1798,^(Etymonline) and “to reduce in proportion” in American English in 1790;^(Barnhart 1988) ''scale down'' is by 1887.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1380 – verb, to climb by ladder.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1391 – a series of marks.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1597 – a musical scale.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1600 – a series of steps.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1626 – a standard of estimation.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1662 – the scale of a map.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1790 – verb, to reduce in proportion.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A series of marks at regular intervals, used for [[measure|alt=measuring]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A graded system or series: ''a pay scale''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # The [[proportion]] between the size of a map or model and the thing it represents.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Relative size or extent: ''on a grand scale''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''(music)'' A series of notes rising or falling in pitch by fixed steps.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To climb up or over.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To make or change in proportion: ''scale down''.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[scalable]]

+ * [[escalate]]

+ * [[escalator]]

+ * [[large-scale]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[scaling ladder]]

+ * [[shell]]

+ * [[skill]]

+ * [[scallop]]

+ * [[shale]]

+ * [[scan]]

+ * [[ascend]]

+ * [[descend]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}