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scribe [scribe 词源字典]: scribe: [14] Scribe is at the centre of a large network of English words that go back to Latin scrībere ‘write’. Others include ascribe [15], describe, scribble [15], and shrive, while its past participle scriptus has contributed script [14], scripture [13], and transcript [13]. Scribe itself comes from the Latin derivative scrība ‘official writer’. Scrībere went back to an Indo-European base which meant ‘cut, incise’, reflecting the origins of writing in carving marks on stone, wood, or clay; this was *skreibh-, an extension of *sker-, from which English gets shear, short, etc.
=> ascribe, conscription, describe, scribble, script, share, shear, short, shrive, transcribe[scribe etymology, scribe origin, 英语词源]
scrimmage: scrimmage: see skirmish
scrofula: scrofula: see screw
scroll: scroll: [15] Scroll has no family connection with roll, although roll is largely responsible for its present-day form. Etymologically it is actually the same word as shred. Both go back to a prehistoric Germanic *skrautha ‘something cut’. This evolved in a straight line to give English shred, but it was also borrowed through medieval Latin scrōda into Old French as escroe, where its meaning ‘cut piece, strip’ narrowed to ‘strip of parchment’.

Its Anglo- Norman version escrowe was acquired by English, where it split in two. It survives in full as escrow [16], a legal term for a sort of deed, but a shortened form, scrow, also emerged, and association with roll (in the sense ‘roll of parchment’) led to its being altered to scrowle or scroll.
=> escrow, shred
scrummage: scrummage: see skirmish
scruple: scruple: [16] Latin scrūpus meant ‘sharp stone’, and the notion of something troubling the mind like a painful stone in the shoe led to its metaphorical use for ‘anxiety, doubt, particularly over a moral issue’. Both meanings were carried over into the diminutive form scrūpulus, which also came to be used for a very small unit of weight. This passed into English via French scrupule as scruple, on the way losing the literal sense ‘small stone’.
scrutinize: scrutinize: [17] The etymological notion underlying scrutinize is of ragpickers searching through piles of garbage looking for anything of use or value. For its ultimate source is Latin scrūta ‘rubbish’. From this was formed the verb scrūtārī ‘rummage through rubbish’, hence broadly ‘search, examine’. This in turn formed the basis of the noun scrūtinium, source of English scrutiny [15], from which scrutinize was derived.
scud: scud: see scuttle
scullery: scullery: [15] A scullery is etymologically a place where ‘dishes’ are handled. For it goes back ultimately to Latin scutra ‘wooden dish’. Its diminutive form scutella was used for a sort of square tray or stand for plates, glasses, vases, etc. Association with scūtum ‘shield’ led to this being changed in Vulgar Latin to *scūtella, which passed into Old French as escuele ‘dish’. Its derivative escuelerie ‘place where dishes, plates, and other kitchen utensils are kept, cleaned, etc’ passed into English via Anglo- Norman squillerie as scullery. Also descended from scutella are English scuttle and skillet.
sculpture: sculpture: [14] Latin sculpere meant ‘carve, scratch’ (it was a variant of scalpere, from which English gets scalpel [18]). From is past participle sculptus was formed the noun sculptūra, acquired by English as sculpture. The agent noun sculptor [17] also comes from Latin, while the verb sculpt [19] was borrowed from French sculpter.
=> scalpel
scum: scum: [13] Scum is etymologically a ‘layer on top’ of something. The word’s modern connotations of ‘dirt’ are a secondary development. It comes ultimately from prehistoric Germanic *skūman, a derivative of the base *skū- ‘cover’, and its relatives include German schaum ‘foam’ (source of English meerschaum [18], literally ‘sea-foam’).

English scum originally meant ‘foam’ too (‘Those small white Fish to Venus consecrated, though without Venus’ aid they be created of th’ Ocean scum’, Joshua Sylvester, Divine Weeks and Works of Du Bartas 1598), the notion being of a layer of froth ‘covering’ liquid, but by the 15th century it was broadening out to any ‘film on top of liquid’, and from there it went downhill to a ‘film of dirt’ and then simply ‘dirt’.

Germanic *skūman was borrowed into Old French as escume, and this formed the basis of a verb escumer ‘remove the top layer’, from which English gets skim [15].
=> meerschaum, skim
scuttle: scuttle: English has three distinct words scuttle. The oldest, ‘large container’ [15] (now mainly encountered in coal-scuttle), was borrowed from Old Norse skutill, which goes back ultimately to Latin scutella ‘tray, salver’ (from which English also gets scullery and skillet). Scuttle ‘sink a ship’ [17] is a verbal use of an earlier noun scuttle ‘opening or hatch in a ship’s side’.

This was borrowed from early modern French escoutille ‘hatch’, which in turn came from Spanish escotilla, a diminutive form of escota ‘opening in a garment’. And escota was derived from escotar ‘cut out’, a compound verb formed with the prefix e- ‘out’ from the Germanic stem *skaut- (source of English sheet). Scuttle ‘run’ [17] is a variant of the now obsolete scuddle, which was derived from scud ‘move quickly’ [16]; and scud itself may have been an alteration of scut ‘rabbit’s tail’ [15] (a word of unknown origin), the underlying meaning therefore being ‘run like a rabbit’.
=> scullery, skillet; sheet; scud, scut
scythe: scythe: [OE] Scythe goes back ultimately to the Indo-European base *sek- ‘cut’, source also of English section, segment, sickle, etc. Its Germanic descendant was *seg-, which produced the noun *segithō, source of English scythe (the variant *sag- lies behind English saw). Until the 17th century the word was generally spelled sythe; modern scythe is due to the influence of scissors.
=> section, segment, sickle
sea: sea: [OE] Sea is a widespread Germanic word, related to German see, Dutch zee, Swedish sjö, and Danish sø (the Scandinavian words are now more usually used for ‘lake’ than ‘sea’). These all point back to a prehistoric Germanic *saiwiz, but it is not known where that came from.
seal: seal: Seal the animal [OE] and seal ‘impressed mark, closure’ [13] are of course different words. The former goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *selkhaz, a word of unknown origin which also produced Swedish säl and Danish sæl. The latter was borrowed from Anglo- Norman seal, a descendant of Latin sigillum. This, a diminutive form of signum (from which English gets sign), meant ‘little mark or picture’, and came to be used for such a mark distinctive of a particular person.
=> sign, signal
seam: seam: [OE] A seam is etymologically a joint made by ‘sewing’. The word goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *saumaz (source also of German saum, Dutch zoom, Swedish söm, and Danish søm), which was derived from the base *sau-, the ancestor of English sew.
=> sew
séance: séance: see session
search: search: [14] Etymologically, search denotes ‘going round in a circle’ – for its ultimate source is Latin circus ‘circle’ (source of English circle and circus). From this was derived the verb circāre ‘go round’, which by the time it had reached Old French as cerchier had acquired connotations of ‘examining’ or ‘exploring’. English took it over via Anglo-Norman sercher. (It is no relation, incidentally, to English seek.)
=> circle, circus
season: season: [13] A season is etymologically a time of ‘sowing seeds’. The word comes via Old French seson from Latin satiō ‘act of sowing’, a derivative of satus, the past participle of serere ‘sow, plant’ (which went back to the same Indo- European base that produced English seed, semen, and sow). In post-classical times ‘act of sowing’ evolved into ‘time for sowing’, and by the time it reached Old French it had developed further to any ‘suitable time’.

The application to ‘any of the four main divisions of the year’ emerged in English in the 14th century. The use of season as a verb, meaning ‘add flavourings to’, had its beginnings in post-classical Latin, and arose as the result of a progression from ‘sow’ through ‘ripen’ to ‘cook thoroughly or well’.
=> seed, semen, sow
seat: seat: [12] Seat is of course a close relative of sit – they come from the same prehistoric Germanic base, *set-. But unlike sit, it is not a longestablished native word. It is a borrowing, from Old Norse sáeti. It originally meant ‘act of sitting’, and was not used for ‘something to sit on’ until the 13th century.
=> sit