English
scandalous
Scandalous comes from Ecclesiastical Latin scandalum ‘scandal’, and goes back to Ancient Greek σκάνδαλον ‘a trap laid for an enemy, a cause of moral…’.
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσκάνδαλον‘a trap laid for an enemy, a cause of moral stumbling’
- Ecclesiastical Latinc. 200–1500scandalum‘scandal’
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500scandalōsus
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400scandaleux
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500scandalouse‘disgraceful, shameful’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1587scandalous
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσκάνδαλον‘a trap laid for an enemy, a cause of moral stumbling’
- Ecclesiastical Latinc. 200–1500scandalum‘scandal’
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500scandalōsus
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400scandaleux
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500scandalouse‘disgraceful, shameful’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1587scandalous
Earliest quotation: c. 1587, Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedie: […] (Fourth Quarto): “Theſe be the ſcandalous reportes of ſuch, / As…”
Equivalent to scandal + -ous
Proto-Indo-European *skand- ‘to jump’
Ancient Greek σκάνδαλον ‘a trap laid for an enemy, a cause of moral…’
Ecclesiastical Latin scandalum ‘that on which one trips, cause of offense’
Middle French scandale ‘indignation caused by misconduct or…’
English scandal
The story
From Late Middle English scandalouse (‘disgraceful, shameful’), borrowed from Old French scandaleux (‘scandalous’) (modern French scandaleux), from Medieval Latin scandalōsus, from Ecclesiastical Latin scandalum (‘scandal’) + Latin -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of; prone to’ forming adjectives). Scandalum is derived from Ancient Greek σκᾰ́νδᾰλον (skắndălon, “offence, scandal; snare, trap”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Pre-Greek or Proto-Indo-European *skend- (‘to jump’) (referring to a device for climbing or jumping on, such as might be used by someone setting a trap).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *skend- ‘to jump’
scale, ascension, descend, echelon, escalator, scala, skein, ascendant, 13 more
through Ecclesiastical Latin scandalum ‘scandal’
Today it means
adj Of a thing: causing or having the nature of a scandal; regarded as so immoral or wrong as to be extremely disgraceful; despicable, shameful.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Ancient Greek σκάνδαλον / scandalous