esca

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See also: ESCA, ésca, and -esca

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Latin ēsca (bait).

Noun

esca (plural escae)

  1. (ichthyology) The fleshy growth from an anglerfish's head that acts as a lure for its prey.
  2. (phytopathology) A fungal disease afflicting grapes.
Synonyms
Translations

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)

  1. (historical) A traditional Galician unit of dry measure, equivalent to about 6–9 L depending on the substance measured.
  2. (historical) A kind of measuring cup once used for measuring escas of grain.
Coordinate terms

Anagrams

Asturian

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin ēsca.

Noun

esca f (plural esques)

  1. tinder (dry plants used to light a fire)

Catalan

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin ēsca.

Noun

esca f (plural esques)

  1. amadou (substance derived from the hoof fungus)
  2. tinder (dry plants used to light a fire)
  3. (figurative) spur, impetus, stimulus
    Synonym: incentiu
  4. bait (substance used in catching fish)
    Synonym: esquer
Derived terms

Further reading

Etymology 2

Verb

esca

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

Galician

Alternative forms

Etymology

Circa 1300. From Old Galician-Portuguese, from Latin ēsca.

Pronunciation

Noun

esca f (plural escas)

  1. 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
  2. bait

Derived terms

References

  • ysca” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
  • ysca” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
  • esca” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
  • esca” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
  • esca” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Italian

Etymology 1

From Latin ēsca.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈe.ska/
  • Rhymes: -eska
  • Hyphenation: é‧sca

Noun

esca f (plural esche)

  1. (obsolete) (animal) food
  2. (obsolete, uncommon, also figurative) food
  3. bait, lure (anything used to catch animals)
  4. (figurative) bait, lure (anything that allures or attracts)
  5. (figurative) decoy
  6. 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

  1. inflection of uscire:
    1. first/second/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Anagrams

Latin

Alternative forms

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.

Pronunciation

Noun

ēsca f (genitive ēscae); first declension

  1. (collective) food
    Synonyms: cibus, alimentum, vīctus, cibāria
    1. an individual serving, a dish
      Synonyms: ferculum, epulum
  2. (collective) fodder
    Synonym: pābulum
    1. (collective) bait
  3. (collective) fuel, especially firewood
    Synonyms: māteria, nūtrīmentum
    1. (collective) kindling, tinder
      Synonyms: fōmentum, nūtrīmentum

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative ēsca ēscae
Genitive ēscae ēscārum
Dative ēscae ēscīs
Accusative ēscam ēscās
Ablative ēscā ēscīs
Vocative ēsca ēscae

Derived terms

Descendants

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. Compare the inherited doublet yesca.

Noun

esca f (plural escas)

  1. (dated) bait (substance used in catching fish)
    Synonym: cebo

Related terms

References

Further reading