English
script
Script comes from Middle English scrit, from Old French escrit ‘writing’, from Latin scrīptum ‘something written’, from scrībō ‘to write’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kréybʰetireconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*skreiβō‘to carve’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEscrībō‘to write’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEscrīptum‘something written’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400escrit‘writing(s)’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500scrit‘writing; document’
- Englishearliest quotation 1934script
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kréybʰetireconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*skreiβō‘to carve’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEscrībō‘to write’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEscrīptum‘something written’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400escrit‘writing(s)’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500scrit‘writing; document’
- Englishearliest quotation 1934script
Earliest quotation: 1934, Ernest Bramah: “But the one [letter] in the unknown script and…”
A compound of *(s)ker- ‘to cut off, sever’ + *(s)kreybʰ- ‘to scratch, to tear’
Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to cut off, sever’
Proto-Indo-European *(s)kreybʰ- ‘to scratch, to tear’
Linked words
through Proto-Italic *skreiβō ‘to carve’
shriver, transcribe, ascribe, inscribe, 32 more
through Latin scrībō ‘write’
description, prescription, prescribe, transcription, inscription, scribe, conscription, scribble, shrift, scrivener, 34 more
Today it means
noun A writing; a written document.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)kréybʰeti / script