Scale vs. Scale

While looking up something today, I got lost in the dictionary (an almost daily occurrence around here). I ended up finding out that scale in the sense of “a calibrated line” (etc.) isn’t related at all to scale from a fish or dragon, or scale “an instrument for weighing”.

Fishy or judicial scale comes from PIE *skel- “to cut” and is cognate with shell, shale, scalp, skill, shelf, etc.

Calibrated scale comes from Latin scalae “flight of steps; ladder”, and ultimately from PIE *skand “to jump, climb”, so it’s cognate with the –scend in descend, ascend (etc.) but also scan, scandal, slander, and echelon. Watkins (in the AHD) says the –nd– assimilates to a following suffix –slā– to form scalae and its derivatives.

I found all that out, and more besides, but I’m not sure if I found what I was originally looking for. Now I can’t remember what it was.

Tim Kirk’s rendering of Smaug

About JE

James Enge is the author of the World-Fantasy-Award-nominated novel Blood of Ambrose (Pyr, April 2009). His latest book is The Wide World's End. His short fiction has appeared in Black Gate, Tales from the Magician's Skull, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and elsewhere.
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