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Where does the word "scale" come from? It comes from Old Norse skal, and was adopted directly into English (1300s).
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Where does the word "scale" come from? It comes from Old Norse skal, and was adopted directly into English (1300s).
Scale’s story begins in Old Norse: skal meant “a bowl, a cup.” A bowl or drinking cup, later the pan of a weighing balance. It reached English by 1300s as scale. Settled as the English word for a weighing instrument, later a measuring gradation. Today, scale means an instrument for weighing, or a graded system of measurement.
- Stage 1 · Old Norse · medieval skal "a bowl, a cup", a bowl or drinking cup, later the pan of a weighing balance.
- Stage 2 · English · 1300s scale "an instrument for weighing, or a graded measuring system", settled as the English word for a weighing instrument, later a measuring gradation.