scala

See also: Scala, scală, scała, and scála

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin scāla (“ladder”). Doublet of scale.

Noun

scala (plural scalas or scalae)

1. Ladder; sequence.
2. (anatomy) Ladder-like structure in the cochlea of a mammal's ear.
3. A machine formerly used for reducing dislocations of the humerus.

Anagrams

• AACSL, Calas, Casal, calas, casal

Interlingua

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈska.la/

Noun

scala (plural scalas)

1. staircase

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈska.la/
• Rhymes: -ala
• Hyphenation: scà‧la

Etymology 1

From Latin scāla (“stair, staircase, ladder”).

Noun

scala f (plural scale)

1. ladder
2. stair
3. scale

Derived terms

• scala mobile (“escalator”)

Descendants

• → German: Skala
  • → Polish: skala
• → French: escale
• → Turkish: iskele

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

scala

1. inflection of scalare:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Etymology 3

Noun

scala f (plural scale)

1. (card games, poker) straight

Anagrams

• lasca

Latin

Etymology

From *skand-slā, from scandō.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈskaː.la/, [ˈs̠käːɫ̪ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈska.la/, [ˈskäːlä]

Noun

scāla f (genitive scālae); first declension

1. ladder
2. (plural only) stairs (flight of steps)

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	scāla	scālae
Genitive	scālae	scālārum
Dative	scālae	scālīs
Accusative	scālam	scālās
Ablative	scālā	scālīs
Vocative	scāla	scālae

Descendants

• Aromanian: scarã
• Asturian: escalera
• Catalan: escala
• Franco-Provençal: êchiéla
• Friulian: scjale, sčhale
• Galician: escá
• Norman: éqùile (continental Normandy), étchelle (Guernsey), êtchelle (Jersey), ekyel (Sark)
• Occitan: escala
• Old French: eschele, eschale, eskele
  • Bourguignon: échaule
  • Lorrain: schaule
  • Middle French:
    • French: échelle
    • Norman: équielle
  • Picard: ékèle (Somme), ékièle (Artois and Eastern Picard)
  • Walloon: schåle
• Piedmontese: scala
• → Portuguese: escala
• Romanian: scară, scală, escală, schelă
• Romansch: stgala, scala, stgeala
• Sardinian: iscala, issala, scaba
• Sicilian: scala
• Spanish: escala, escalera
• Tashelhit: taskala
• Venetian: scała
• → Albanian: shkallë
• → Byzantine Greek: σκάλα (skála)
  • Greek: σκάλα (skála)
    • → Italian: scala
      • → German: Skala
        • → Polish: skala
      • → French: escale
      • → Turkish: iskele
    • → Macedonian: скала (skala)
• → Dutch: schaal
• → English: scala
• → Georgian: სკალა (sḳala)
• → Irish: scála
• → Middle English: scale
  • English: scale
    • → Japanese: スケール (sukēru)
• → Russian: шкала (škala)
  • → Kazakh: шкала (şkala)
• → Welsh: ysgol

Further reading

• “scala”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• scala in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• scala in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to apply scaling-ladders: scalas admovere (B. C. 3. 63)
    
  • to scale the walls by means of ladders: positis scalis muros ascendere
    
• scala in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• “scala”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *skalō (“shell”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to split, part, divide”).

Noun

scala f

1. shell
2. scale (dish of balance)
3. bowl

Descendants

• Middle High German: schāle
  • German: Schale
    • → Serbo-Croatian: šolja
  • Yiddish: שאָל‎ (shol)