English
escalator
Escalator comes from Latin scala ‘ladder’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *skend- ‘to jump up, ascend’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skend-1‘to jump up, ascend’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEscala2‘ladder’
- Englishearliest quotation 1957escalator2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin scala, which cites Martirosyan
- 2 Wiktionary, English escalator
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1957, Charles E. Lee, The Changing Face of Transport: “It was the Earls Court installation on the Piccadilly…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skend-Wiktionary, Latin scala, which cites Martirosyan‘to jump up, ascend’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEscalaWiktionary, English escalator‘ladder’
- Englishearliest quotation 1957escalatorWiktionary, English escalator. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1957, Charles E. Lee, The Changing Face of Transport: “It was the Earls Court installation on the Piccadilly…”
Equivalent to escalate + -or
The story
By genericization from the former trademark Escalator, created by American inventor Charles Seeberger in 1900, from Latin ē- (‘from, out of’) + scala (‘ladder’) + -tor, which forms nouns of agency; see the appendix. Broader usage may be influenced by its derivative escalate, by surface analysis, escalate + -or. For an alternative etymology, see the Online Etymology Dictionary.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *skend- ‘to jump up, ascend’
scan, ascension, slander, descend, ascendant, skein, scalar, 12 more
through Latin scala ‘ladder’
Today it means
noun Anything that escalates.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “escalator”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin scala. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *skend- / escalator