scala Latin · revision 7481
16 Oct 2026, 13:58 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
Initial text
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=Ennius|origins=la scandō}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈskaː.ɫa]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈskaː.la]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''scāla''' ''f'' (genitive scālae); first declension^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is from [[scandō]] “to climb” with the suffix [[-la]], from ⟨*scand-slā⟩, from [[ine-pro|*skend-]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Hrach Martirosyan connects [[xcl|սանդուղք|tr=sandułkʿ|t=ladder]] and posits an Armeno-Italic ⟨*(s)kn̥d-sleh₂⟩.^(Wiktionary) Varro says it was used only in the plural, ⟨scālae⟩, and Quintilian condemns the singular as a barbarism, though Celsus and Gaius have it.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ The OLD's earliest citations are from Ennius, of scaling ladders, and Plautus, of a ladder.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Ennius 204–169 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It meant a ladder or ladders, as in Plautus and Cato, and in war scaling ladders, as in Caesar and Virgil.^(OLD 2012) From Cicero it meant a flight of stairs in a building, and in Varro and Vitruvius open steps leading to a building or street.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+
+ In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant a ladder.^(Stelten 1995) Medieval Latin used it for a harbour, a port of call, and a battalion.^(Niermeyer 1976) It survives in Italian ''scala'', French ''échelle'' and Spanish ''escala''.^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of scaling ladders.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a ladder.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a staircase.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of steps in a theatre.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A [[m|en|ladder]]; a scaling ladder.^(OLD 2012)
+ # A flight of stairs, [[m|en|staircase]].^(OLD 2012)
+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A harbour, port of call; a [[m|en|battalion]].^(Niermeyer 1976)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[scālāris]]
+ * [[scālārius]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[scandō]]
+ * [[en|scale]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}