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Origin and history of scope

scope(n.1)

[extent] 1530s, "room to act, free play," also literal (1550s), "room to move in, space;" from Italian scopo "aim, purpose, object; thing aimed at, mark, target," from Latin scopus, from Greek skopos "aim, target, object of attention;" also "watcher, one who watches," which according to Watkins is from a metathesized form of PIE *spek-yo-, suffixed form of root *spek- "to observe." Beekes writes that the old IE root noun (as in Latin haruspex) from *spek- apparently was replaced in Greek by skopos. 

It is attested from 1550s as "that which is aimed at or desired," hence "ultimate aim;" the classical sense of "a mark to aim or shoot at" was in English by 1560s but now is obsolete. Hence "object a speaker or writer has in view" (1530s). The sense of "intellectual range, distance the mind can reach" is recorded from c. 1600. By 1590s as "extent in space." By 1830 as "sphere in which some activity operates." Elizabethan scopious "spacious, wide" did not stick.

scope(n.2)

[instrument for viewing] 1872, shortened from telescope, microscope, etc., in which the element (Latinized) is from Greek skopein "to look" (from PIE root *spek- "to observe"). Earlier used as a shortening of horoscope (c. 1600). Extended to radar screens, etc., by 1945 as a shortening of oscilloscope.

scope(v.)

1807, "calculate the scope of," from scope (n.1). The slang meaning "to look at, examine" (often as scope out) is by 1985, from earlier scope out meaning "plan out; comprehend the scope of" taken from the primary sense. Related: Scoped; scoping.

also from 1807

Entries linking to scope

haruspex(n.)

1580s, from Latin haruspex (plural haruspices) "soothsayer by means of entrails," first element from PIE root *ghere- "gut, entrail;" second element from Latin spic- "beholding, inspecting," from PIE *speks "he who sees," from root *spek- "to observe." The practice is Etruscan. Related: Haruspical; haruspication.

microscope(n.)

"optical instrument which by means of a lens or lenses magnifies and renders visible minute objects or details of visible bodies," 1650s, from Modern Latin microscopium, literally "an instrument for viewing what is small;" see micro- + -scope. The dim southern constellation Microscopium was among those introduced by La Caille in 1752.

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telescope
1640s, from Italian telescopio (Galileo, 1611), and Modern Latin telescopium (Kepler, 1613), both from Greek teleskopos "far-seeing," from tele- "far" (from PIE root *kwel- (2) "far" in space or time) + -skopos "watcher" (from PIE root *spek- "to observe"). Said to have been coin
setting
c. 1300, "a fixed time for meals;" late 14c., "fact or action of putting (something) in a place or position; a placing, a planting," also "a place, location, site; the manner or position in which anything is fixed," verbal noun from set (v.). The surgical sense, with reference to
range
c. 1200, renge, "row or line of persons" (especially hunters or soldiers), from Old French reng, renge "a row, line, rank," from Frankish *hring or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *hringaz "circle, ring, something curved" (from nasalized form of PIE root *sker- (2
scanty
1650s, "meager, barely sufficient for use;" 1701, "too small, limited in scope, lacking amplitude or extent," from scant...
paranoia
"mental disorder characterized by systematized delusions of more or less definite scope," 1848 (earlier paranoea 1811), from...
till
serving in the place of English to, probably originally the accusative case of a noun now lost except for Icelandic tili "scope...
governmentalism
"disposition to enlarge the power and scope of the government," 1841, from governmental + -ism; originally in reference to...
anger
c. 1200, "to irritate, annoy, provoke," from Old Norse angra "to grieve, vex, distress; to be vexed at, take offense with," from Proto-Germanic *angaz (source also of Old English enge "narrow, painful," Middle Dutch enghe, Gothic aggwus "narrow"), from PIE *anghos, suffixed form
ballpark
also ball-park, "baseball stadium," 1893, short for baseball (or football) park; see ball (n.1) + park (n.). To be in the ballpark in the figurative sense of "within an acceptable range of approximation" is first recorded 1954, originally in the jargon of atomic weapons scientist
canvas
"sturdy cloth made from hemp or flax," mid-14c., from Anglo-French canevaz, Old North French canevach, Old French chanevaz "canvas," literally "made of hemp, hempen," noun use of Vulgar Latin adjective *cannapaceus "made of hemp," from Latin cannabis, from Greek kannabis "hemp,"

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