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esca. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
esca, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
esca in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
esca you have here. The definition of the word
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esca, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Latin ēsca (“bait”).
Noun
esca (plural escae)
- (ichthyology) The fleshy growth from an anglerfish's head that acts as a lure for its prey.
- (phytopathology) A fungal disease afflicting grapes.
Synonyms
Translations
growth on anglerfish's head
Etymology 2
From Galician escá, from Hispanic Late Latin scala (“bowl”) attested in Isidore of Seville, probably from Suevic, from Proto-Germanic *skēlō (“bowl”). Cognate with German Schale and Dutch schaal.
Noun
esca (plural escas)
- (historical) A traditional Galician unit of dry measure, equivalent to about 6–9 L depending on the substance measured.
- (historical) A kind of measuring cup once used for measuring escas of grain.
Coordinate terms
Anagrams
- ACEs, ASCE, Aces, CASE, Case, Ceas, SCEA, aces, aesc, case, æsc
Asturian
Etymology
From Latin ēsca.
Noun
esca f (plural esques)
- tinder (dry plants used to light a fire)
Catalan
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Inherited from Latin ēsca.
Noun
esca f (plural esques)
- amadou (substance derived from the hoof fungus)
- tinder (dry plants used to light a fire)
- (figurative) spur, impetus, stimulus
- Synonym: incentiu
- bait (substance used in catching fish)
- Synonym: esquer
Derived terms
Further reading
Etymology 2
Verb
esca
- inflection of escar:
- third-person singular present indicative
- second-person singular imperative
Galician
Etymology
Circa 1300. From Old Galician-Portuguese, from Latin ēsca.
Pronunciation
Noun
esca f (plural escas)
- tinder (dry plants used to light a fire)
c. 1300, R. Martínez López, General Estoria. Versión gallega del siglo XIV, Oviedo: Publicacións de Archivum, page 220:y achou cõ aquel arco hum estormento, et seu esqueyro, et sua ysca, et seu pedernal em el- there he found, together with that bow, a tinderbox, with its lighter, its tinder, and its flint inside it
- bait
Derived terms
References
- Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “ysca”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
- Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “ysca”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
- Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “esca”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
- Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “esca”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
- Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “esca”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN
Italian
Etymology 1
From Latin ēsca.
Pronunciation
Noun
esca f (plural esche)
- (obsolete) (animal) food
- (obsolete, uncommon, also figurative) food
- bait, lure (anything used to catch animals)
- (figurative) bait, lure (anything that allures or attracts)
- (figurative) decoy
- tinder
Derived terms
Further reading
- esca in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Pronunciation
Verb
esca
- inflection of uscire:
- first/second/third-person singular present subjunctive
- third-person singular imperative
Anagrams
Latin
Etymology
For Proto-Italic *ēsskā, Proto-Indo-European *h₁ēd-s-keh₂, from *h₁ed- (“eat”), the root of edō (“eat”). Judging by Lithuanian ėskà (“food, fodder”), the long vowel is of PIE origin, but despite this often cited as an example of Lachmann's lengthening.[1]
Pronunciation
Noun
ēsca f (genitive ēscae); first declension
- (collective) food
- Synonyms: cibus, alimentum, vīctus, cibāria
- an individual serving, a dish
- Synonyms: ferculum, epulum
- (collective) fodder
- Synonym: pābulum
- (collective) bait
- (collective) fuel, especially firewood
- Synonyms: māteria, nūtrīmentum
- (collective) kindling, tinder
- Synonyms: fōmentum, nūtrīmentum
Declension
First-declension noun.
- An archaic/dialectal form of the genitive singular, ēscās (for the classically usual ēscae) is cited by Priscian from Livius Andronicus.
Derived terms
Descendants
- Balkan Romance:
- Italo-Romance:
- Padanian:
- Northern Gallo-Romance:
- Southern Gallo-Romance:
- Ibero-Romance:
- Borrowings:
References
Further reading
- “esca”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “esca”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- esca 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)
- esca in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Spanish
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin ēsca.[1] Compare the inherited doublet yesca.
Noun
esca f (plural escas)
- (dated) bait (substance used in catching fish)
- Synonym: cebo
References
Further reading