How are ladders and schools connected?
Well, in Welsh there is one word that means both ladder and school: ysgol [ˈəsgɔl].
The word ysgol, meaning ladder, comes from the Middle Welsh yscawl [ˈәsgaul] (ladder), from Latin scāla (ladder, stairs), from scandō (I climb, ascend, mount), from the the Proto-Indo-European *skend- (to jump).
Related words include:
– ysgol do/grib = roof-ladder
– ysgol raff = rope ladder
– ysgol ffenestr = window ladder
– ysgol bysgod = fish-ladder
The word ysgol, meaning school, comes from the Middle Welsh yscol (school), from the Latin schola (leisure time given to learning; schooltime; a school; a student body; an art gallery), from the Ancient Greek σχολή (skholḗ – leisure, free time, rest; lecture, disputation, discussion; philosophy; school, lecture hall).
Related words include:
– ysgol fabanod = nursery school
– ysgol feithrin = infant school
– ysgol gynradd/elfennol/fach = primary/elementary school
– ysgol uwchradd = secondary school
– ysgol gyfun = comprehensive school
– ysgol breswyl = boarding school
– ysgol hwyrol = night school
– ysgol Sul = Sunday school
– ysgol farddol = bardic school
– ysgol brofiad/profiad = school of life
– prifysgol = university, college, academy, seminary
A similar-sounding, though unrelated word is (y)sgôl [ˈəsgoːl] (squall; disaster, damage; disturbance, commotion, quarrel).
Sources: Wiktionary, Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru, Old and Middle Welsh
Diolch i Diana i awgrymu’r pwnc ‘ma.
This is what immediately came to my mind when I read “How are ladders and schools connected?”:
The German “Schulleiter” (masculine gender) means “headmaster” but with feminine gender markers the word would be taken to mean “school ladder.”
https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Schulleiter
https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Leiter_Anfuehrer_Stoff
https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Leiter_Tritt_Stiege_Geraet
Diolch yn fawr am yr esboniad.
A shame. I thought there was an obvious conceptual connection, but I was wrong.