scale [ME] English has three main words scale, two of which share an ancestry. The scale of fishes and reptiles has the same root as the scale used for weighing, and both are related to *shell. The weighing scale had the early sense ‘drinking cup’ (a meaning which survives in South African English) which probably transferred to the pans of the scales. It comes from Old Norse skál ‘bowl’, also source of the drinking toast skol [E17th]. The scale in music and measuring derives from Latin scala ‘ladder’, from the root of scandere ‘to climb’, an element in ascend, descend, and condescend, all Late Middle English. See also scan.