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Origin and history of scale

scale(n.1)

[one of the skin plates on fish or snakes] c. 1300, from Old French escale "cup, scale, shell pod, husk" (12c., Modern French écale), from Frankish *skala or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *skæla "to split, divide" (source also of Dutch schaal "a scale, husk," Old High German scala "shell," Gothic skalja "tile," Old English scealu "shell, husk"), from PIE root *skel- (1) "to cut." A prehistoric cognate of scale (n.2) "weighing instrument."

In reference to humans, as a condition of certain skin diseases, it is attested from late 14c. Extended in botany to coverings of leaf-buds, etc., by 1776. As what falls from one's eye when blindness ends (usually figurative), it echoes Acts ix:18 (Latin tanquam squamæ, Greek hosei lepides).

scale(n.2)

[weighing instrument] early 15c., extended to the whole instrument from the earlier sense of "pan of a balance" (late 14c.); earlier still "drinking cup" (c. 1200), from Old Norse skal "bowl, drinking cup," in plural, "weighing scale."

This is from a noun derivative of Proto-Germanic *skæla "to split, divide" (source also of Old Norse skel "shell," Old English scealu, Old Saxon skala "a bowl (to drink from)," Old High German scala, German Schale "a bowl, dish, cup," Middle Dutch scale, Dutch schaal "drinking cup, bowl, shell, scale of a balance"), from PIE root *skel- (1) "to cut."

The connecting sense seems to be of half of a bivalve ("split") shell used as a drinking cup or a pan for weighing; compare scallop, which is from the same root. But according to Paulus Diaconus the "drinking cup" sense originated from a supposed custom of making goblets from skulls (see skull).

Thus apparently it is related to the scale of a fish but not to scale (n.3) "standard unit of measure."

Scales as a name for the zodiac constellation Libra is attested in English from 1630s.

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.

scale(v.2)

"remove the scales of (a fish, etc.)," c. 1400, scalen, from scale (n.1). Intransitive sense "to separate and come off in scales or thin layers" is from 1520s. Related: Scaled; scaling.

scale(v.3)

1690s, "weigh in scales," from scale (n.2). Earlier in a now-obsolete sense "to compare, estimate" (c. 1600). The meaning "weigh out in proper quantities" is by 1841. Related: Scaled; scaling.

scale(n.3)

[standard of measure or estimation] late 14c., "series of registering marks; marks laid down to determine distance along a line," (in Chaucer's description of the astrolabe), from Latin scala "ladder, flight of stairs," from *scansla, from stem of scandere "to climb" (see scale (v.1)). 

The noun in the classical Latin sense is rare, though Middle English had it as "ladder used in sieges" (c. 1400). The meaning "succession or series of steps ascending or descending" is from c. 1600; that of "standard for estimation" (large scale, small scale, etc.) is from 1620s.

The musical sense of "definite and standard series of tones within a certain range," typically an octave (1590s), and the meaning "proportion of a representation to the actual object" (1660s) are via Italian scala, from Latin scala.

Hence also the verb scale in the sense of "measure or regulate by a scale" (1798), "draw, project, or make according to scale" (by 1885), and scale down "cut or decrease proportionally in every part" (by 1887). Related: Scaled; scaling.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to scale

scallop(n.)

type of edible bivalve mollusk, mid-14c., scalop, from Old French escalope "shell (of a nut), carapace," a variant of eschalope, which probably is from a Germanic source (compare Old Norse skalpr "sheath," Middle Dutch schelpe "shell"), from PIE root *skel- (1) "to cut."

Extended 17c. to objects shaped or ornaments cut like scallop shells, especially in design and dress. The shells of the larger species, often colorfully marked, have been used as domestic utensils. It also was a symbol of St. James the Great, and the shells were worn or carried as by pilgrims who had been to his shrine in Compostella.

skull(n.)

"cranium, the bony framework of the head," c. 1200, sculle, probably from Old Norse skalli "a bald head, skull," a general Scandinavian word (compare Swedish skulle, Norwegian skult), itself probably related to Old English scealu "husk" (see shell (n.)).

But early prominence in southwestern texts suggests rather origin from a Dutch or Low German cognate (such as Dutch schol "turf, piece of ice," but the sense of "head bone framework" is wanting). Derivation from Old French escuelle "bowl" seems unlikely on grounds of sound and sense. An Old English word for skull was heafod-bolla. Latin cranium also is glossed at least once in Middle English as braynpanne.

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skull
"cranium, the bony framework of the head," c. 1200, sculle, probably from Old Norse skalli "a bald head, skull," a general Scandinavian word (compare Swedish skulle, Norwegian skult), itself probably related to Old English scealu "husk" (see shell (n.)). But early prominence in s
scurf
late Old English scurf, "scaly or flaky matter forming on the surface of the skin," also "exfoliated epidermis," earlier sceorf, from Proto-Germanic *skurf- (source also of Old Norse skurfottr, Danish skurv, Swedish skorv, Middle Dutch scorf, schorf, Dutch schurft, Old High Germa
surmount
early 14c., "have power, rule; have control over; gain power over" (now archaic or obsolete); late 14c. as "be higher than, be situated above," also "rise above, flood; go or fly beyond;" also "transcend" (a limit, a boundary). This is from Old French surmonter "rise above," from
gamut
1520s, "low G, lowest note in the medieval musical scale" (the system of notation devised by Guido d'Arezzo), a contraction...from gamma, the Greek letter, used in medieval music notation to indicate the note below the A which began the classical scale..., + ut (later replaced by do for greater sonority), the low note on the six-note musical scale that took names from syllables...sense of "entire scale or range" of anything, first recorded 1620s....
squamous
"scaly, scale-like, covered with scales," 1540s, from Latin squamosus "covered with scales, scaly," from squama "scale" of...Middle English had squame "a scale" (late 14c.), from Old French esquame, from Latin squama....
Celsius
1797 in reference to the type of thermometer; 1812 in reference to the scale of temperatures, from the name of Swedish astronomer...Anders Celsius (1701-1744) inventor of the centigrade scale in 1742....
chromatic
c. 1600, in music, "involving tones foreign to the normal tonality of the scale, not diatonic," from Latin chromaticus, from...Greek also used khrōma for certain modifications of the usual diatonic music scale....connection is the extended sense of khrōma, "ornaments, makeup, embellishments," via the notion of "characteristic" of a musical scale...
attain
c. 1300, "succeed in reaching, come so near as to touch," from ataign-, stem of Old French ataindre "to come up to, reach, attain, endeavor, strive" (11c., Modern French atteindre), from Vulgar Latin *attangere, corresponding to Latin attingere "to touch; arrive at," from ad "to"
measure
early 14c., mesuren, "to exercise moderation;" mid-14c., "to deal out or divide up by measure," also "to ascertain spatial dimensions, quantity, or capacity of by comparison with a standard;" from Old French mesurer "measure; moderate, curb" (12c.), from Late Latin mensurare "to
quantify
c. 1840, in logic, "make explicit the use of a term in a proposition by attaching all, some, etc.," from Modern Latin quantificare, from Latin quantus "as much," correlative pronominal adjective (see quantity) + combining form of facere "to make" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put

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