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Origin and history of ascend

ascend(v.)

late 14c., ascenden, "move upward," from Latin ascendere "climb up, mount," of planets, constellations, "come over the horizon," figuratively "to rise, reach;" from ad "to" (see ad-) + scandere "to climb" (see scale (v.1)).

The meaning "slope upward" is from 1832. Related: Ascended; ascending. An Old English word for it was stigan (see sty (v.)).

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to ascend

ascending(adj.)

"proceeding from a lower position to a higher," 1610s, present-participle adjective from ascend (v.).

scale(v.1)

"to climb (a wall) by or as by a ladder; attack with scaling ladders," late 14c., scalen, from Latin scala "ladder, flight of stairs," from *scansla, from stem of scandere "to climb, rise, mount," which is reconstructed to be from PIE *skand- "to spring, leap, climb" (source also of Sanskrit skandati "hastens, leaps, jumps;" Greek skandalon "stumbling block;" Middle Irish sescaind "he sprang, jumped," sceinm "a bound, jump").

Middle English scale (n.) "ladder used in sieges," is attested c. 1400, from the Latin noun. The verb in general and figurative use (of mountains, heights of pleasure, etc.) is attested by 16c. Related: Scaled; scaling.

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More to explore

sty
"pen for pigs," Middle English sti, from Old English sti, stig "hall, pen" (as in sti-fearh "sty-pig"), from Proto-Germanic *stijan (source also of Old Norse stia "sty, kennel," svinsti "pig-pen," Danish sti, Swedish stia "pen for swine, sheep, goats, etc.," Old High German stiga
ascendant
late 14c., ascendent, in astrology, "rising over the horizon," from Latin ascendentem (nominative ascendans), present participle of ascendere "to mount, ascend, go up" (see ascend). The sense "moving upward, rising" is recorded from 1590s. As a noun in astrology, "point of the ec
ascension
c. 1300, "ascent of Christ from earth into Heaven in the presence of his disciples on the 40th day after the Resurrection," from Latin ascensionem (nominative ascensio) "a rising," noun of action from past-participle stem of ascendere "to mount, ascend, go up" (see ascend). The a
mount
c. 1300, mounten, "to get up on a horse;" mid-14c., "to rise up, rise in amount, ascend; fly," from Old French monter "to...go up, ascend, climb, mount," from Vulgar Latin *montare, from Latin mons (genitive montis) "mountain" (from PIE root *men...
arise
get up from sitting, kneeling, or lying; have a beginning, come into being or action, spring from, originate; spring up, ascend...
surge
, probably from French sourge-, stem of sourdre "to rise, swell," from Latin surgere "to rise, arise, get up, mount up, ascend...
climb
Old English climban "raise oneself using hands and feet; rise gradually, ascend; make an ascent of" (past tense clamb, past...
descend
c. 1300, descenden, "move or pass from a higher to a lower place," from Old French descendre (10c.) "descend, dismount; fall into; originate in" and directly from Latin descendere "come down, descend, sink," from de "down" (see de-) + scandere "to climb," from PIE root *skand- "j
change
c. 1200, "to alter, make different, change" (transitive); early 13c. as "to substitute one for another;" mid-13c. as "to make (something) other than what it was, cause to turn or pass from one state to another;" from late 13c. as "to become different, be altered" (intransitive),
travel
late 14c., "to journey," from travailen (1300) "to make a journey," originally "to toil, labor" (see travail). The semantic development may have been via the notion of "go on a difficult journey," but it also may reflect the difficulty of any journey in the Middle Ages. Replaced

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