scandalous

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*skend-“to jump”
2. Pre-Greek · derived from
3. Ancient Greek · derived fromσκᾰ́νδᾰλον“offence, scandal; snare, trap”
4. Latin · derived from-ōsus
5. Ecclesiastical Latin · derived fromscandalum“scandal”
6. Medieval Latin · derived fromscandalōsus
7. Old French · derived fromscandaleux“scandalous”
8. Middle English · inherited fromscandalouse“disgraceful, shameful”
9. English todayscandalous

From Late Middle English scandalouse (“disgraceful, shameful”), borrowed from Old French scandaleux (“scandalous”) (modern French scandaleux), from Medieval Latin scandalōsus, from Ecclesiastical Latin scandalum (“scandal”) + Latin -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of; prone to’ forming adjectives). Scandalum is derived from Ancient Greek σκᾰ́νδᾰλον (skắndălon, “offence, scandal; snare, trap”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Pre-Greek or Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to jump”) (referring to a device for climbing or jumping on, such as might be used by someone setting a trap). By surface analysis, scandal + -ous (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, denoting presence of a quality in any degree (typically an abundance), or a relation to the nouns).

Words from the same roots