Etymograph

English

scissor

Scissor comes from Middle English sisours ‘scissors’, from Latin caedō ‘to cut’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kh₂eyd-‘to cut, hew’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*kh₂éydetireconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kaidō‘to cut, hew, fell’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcaedōas caedere‘to cut’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400cisoires
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sisours‘scissors’
  7. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500cysour
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1613–1614scissor

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kh₂eyd-‘to cut, hew’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*kh₂éydetireconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kaidō‘to cut, hew, fell’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcaedōas caedere‘to cut’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400cisoires
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sisours‘scissors’
  7. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500cysour
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1613–1614scissor

Earliest quotation: 1613–1614, John Fletcher, William Shak[e]speare: “[…] let me know, Why mine owne Barber is…”

The story

From Middle English cysour, cysoure, cysowre, altered from sisours (‘scissors’), from Old French cisoires, cisours, cisur, from Latin caedere (‘to cut’); current spelling influenced by Latin scindere, scissus (‘to split’).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- ‘to cut, hew’

hit, 29 more

through Latin caedō ‘to cut’

decision, cement, precise, concise, circumcision, incision, chisel, incisive, excision, caesium, incisor, 27 more

Today it means

noun One blade of a pair of scissors.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- / scissor

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