English
scalar
Scalar comes from Latin scālāris ‘Of, pertaining to or resembling a flight of…’, from scandō ‘to climb’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *skend- ‘to jump up, ascend’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skend-‘to jump up, ascend’by way of Proto-Italic *skandōreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEscandōas scandere‘to climb’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEscāla‘a flight of steps, stairs, staircase, ladder, scale’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEscālāris‘Of, pertaining to or resembling a flight of stairs, or a ladder’
- Englishearliest quotation 2003scalar
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skend-‘to jump up, ascend’by way of Proto-Italic *skandōreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEscandōas scandere‘to climb’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEscāla‘a flight of steps, stairs, staircase, ladder, scale’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEscālāris‘Of, pertaining to or resembling a flight of stairs, or a ladder’
- Englishearliest quotation 2003scalar
Earliest quotation: 2003, Rodney O. Fox: “However, it can be expected that 'scale-similarity' models of…”
The story
The mathematics sense was coined by Irish mathematician and astronomer William Rowan Hamilton in 1846.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *skend- ‘to jump up, ascend’
descend, slander, scandalous, skein, 12 more
through Latin scandō ‘to climb’
scan, ascension, ascendant, 6 more
through Latin scāla ‘a flight of steps, stairs, staircase, ladder,…’
Today it means
adj Having magnitude but not direction.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *skend- / scalar