ABSTRACT

IIbaft (n, hence v); scape, n, as in Bot and Zoo; scepter (AE) or sceptre (n hence v, whence the pa sceptered, sceptred).

1. Shaft, ME schaft, comes from OE sceaft: cf OFris skeft, OHG scaft (esp a spear), MHG-G schaft. MD schaft, D schacht, ON skapt, a (long) handle of, usu, a spear; cf also Lett !keps, spear, L scapus, shaft, stalk, and Doric Gr skapon, a staff, Gr skiptron. a staff, esp a sceptre: IE r, ·skap-, varr .skep-and ·skop-, all occurring also without the IE prefix so. (Hofmann.)

2. L scapus yields Escape, a Bot peduncle, loosely any flower-stalk. a Zoo stem, an Arch shaft.