English
scenario
Scenario comes from Italian scenario ‘scenery, set’, and goes back to Ancient Greek σκηνή ‘tent, tabernacle’.
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσκηνήskēnḗ‘tent, tabernacle’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEscēna
- Italianc. 1300–presentscena‘scene’
- Italian, derivedc. 1300–presentscenario‘scenery, set’
- Englishearliest quotation 2012same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσκηνήskēnḗ‘tent, tabernacle’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEscēna
- Italianc. 1300–presentscena‘scene’
- Italian, derivedc. 1300–presentscenario‘scenery, set’
- Englishearliest quotation 2012same form
Earliest quotation: 2012, Alasdair Lamont, Hearts 0-1 Liverpool: “Hearts were keen to avoid a repeat of the…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱeh₃- ‘darkness, shadow’
shame, shadow, shade, squirrel, obscure, scotia, hoar, 31 more
through Ancient Greek σκηνή ‘tent, tabernacle’
Today it means
noun An outline or model of an expected or supposed sequence of events.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Ancient Greek σκηνή / scenario