# esca
## English
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈɛskə/

### 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

* (anglerfish growth): illicium
* (fungal disease): black measles

##### 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)
* (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

* (unit of dry volume): cuartillo ($^1$⁄$_{12}$ esca), cunca ($^1$⁄$_6$ esca), ferrado (2 escas), fanega (10 escas)

### Anagrams

* ACEs, ASCE, Aces, CASE, Case, Ceas, SCEA, aces, aesc, case, æsc

## Asturian
### Alternative forms

* yesca

### Etymology

From Latin ēsca.

### Noun

esca f (plural esques)
* tinder (dry plants used to light a fire)

## Catalan
### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central) [ˈɛs.kə]
* IPA: (Balearic) [ˈəs.kə]
* IPA: (Valencia) [ˈes.ka]

### 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

* bolet d’esca
* escar

#### Further reading

* “esca” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
* “esca” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

### Etymology 2
#### Verb

esca
* inflection of escar:
** third-person singular present indicative
** second-person singular imperative

## Galician
### Alternative forms

* isca

### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈeska̝/

### 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 elthere he found, together with that bow, a tinderbox, with its lighter, its tinder, and its flint inside it
* bait

#### Derived terms

* chisqueiro
* esqueiro

### 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: Instituto da Lingua Galega
* 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

* IPA: /ˈe.ska/
* Rhymes: -eska
* Hyphenation: é‧sca

#### 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

* adescare
* inescare
* innescare

#### 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

* IPA: /ˈɛ.ska/
* Rhymes: -ɛska
* Hyphenation: è‧sca

#### Verb

esca
* inflection of uscire:
** first/second/third-person singular present subjunctive
** third-person singular imperative

### Anagrams

* asce, case, seca

## Latin
### Alternative forms

* isca (Medieval 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.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈeːs.ka/, [ˈeːs̠kä]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈes.ka/, [ˈɛskä]

### 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

* adēscō
* ēscālis
* ēscārius
* ēscātilis
* ēscifer
* ēscō(r)
* ēsculentus
* inēscō

#### Descendants

* Balkan Romance:
** Aromanian: eascã, iascã, yeascã, iasche
** Romanian: iască
** → Albanian: eshkë
* Italo-Romance:
** Italian: esca
** Sicilian: isca
** → Greek: ίσκα (íska)
* Padanian:
** Friulian: lescje
** Lombard: lisca
** Romansch: estga, escha
** Venetan: esca, lésca
* Northern Gallo-Romance:
** Old French: esche
*** French: esche, aiche, èche
* Southern Gallo-Romance:
** Aragonese: esca
** Catalan: esca
** Occitan: esca
* Ibero-Romance:
** Asturian: esca, yesca
** Leonese: hisca
** Old Galician-Portuguese:
*** Galician: esca, isca
*** Portuguese: isca
** Spanish: yesca
* Borrowings:
** → English: esca
** → Spanish: esca

### References

* “ēsca” in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present
* De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “edō”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7)‎, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
* ↑ "ėska" in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė

### 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)
* (dated) bait (substance used in catching fish)
    Synonym: cebo

#### Related terms

* yesca

### References

* ↑ Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1983–1991) “esca”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critic Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary] (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos

### Further reading

* “esca”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10