scathe

Synonyms

harmer damage wound abuse annoy bewound damnify dere do damage to do for do ill do violence to forwork grieve harm harrow hurt injure maul mayhem

Etymology

From Middle English scath, scathe [and other forms], from Old Norse skaði (“damage, harm; loss; death; murder”), from Proto-Germanic *skaþô (“damage, scathe; one who causes damage, injurer”, noun) (whence Old English sċeaþa, sċeaþu (“scathe, harm, injury”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keh₁t- (“damage, harm”). Cognate with German Schaden (“damage, harm”).
* Russian шко́да (škóda)
* Belarusian шко́дa (škóda)
* Ukrainian шко́да (škóda)

From Middle English scathen (“to harm, attack, defeat”) [and other forms], from Old Norse skaða (“to damage, harm; to hurt, injure”), from Proto-Germanic *skaþōną (“to damage, harm; to injure”) (whence Old English sceaþian, scaþian (“to harm, hurt, injure, scathe”)), from *skaþô (“damage, scathe; one who causes damage, injurer”, noun); see further at etymology 1.
Sense 2 (“to harm, injure, or destroy (someone or something) by fire, lightning, or some other heat source”) appears to derive from Paradise Lost by the English poet John Milton (1608–1674), perhaps influenced by scorch: see the 1667 quotation.
* Albanian shkathët (“adept, clever, skilful”)
* Danish skade (“to hurt, injure”)
* Dutch schaden (“to injure”)
* Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌸𐌾𐌰𐌽 (skaþjan, “to harm, injure; to do wrong”)
* Ancient Greek ἀσκηθής (askēthḗs, “unhurt”)
* Old Frisian skathia (“to injure”)
* Old High German skadôn (Middle High German schaden, German schaden (“to damage, harm, hurt; to be harmful”))
* Old Norse skeðja (“to hurt”)
* Old Saxon scaðon (“to slander”)
* Swedish skada (“to hurt, injure”)