Dictionary

Scales en · PROPN · etymology 1

Etymology

From Old Norse skáli (“shed, hut”). Doublet of Scholes.

Meanings

1. A surname.
   • Both Bobba and Coristine are listed in internal OPM records reviewed by WIRED as “experts” at OPM, reporting directly to Amanda Scales, its new chief of staff. Scales previously worked on talent for xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence company, and as part of Uber’s talent acquisition team, per LinkedIn. 2025 February 2, Vittoria Elliott, “The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk’s Government Takeover”, in WIRED, archived from the original on 02 Feb 2025:
2. An unincorporated community in Sierra County, California, United States.
3. A small village in Aldingham parish, Westmorland and Furness district, Cumbria, England, previously in South Lakeland district (OS grid ref SD2772).
4. A hamlet in Kirkoswald parish, Westmorland and Furness district, Cumbria, previously in Eden district (OS grid ref NY5743).
5. A hamlet in Threlkeld parish, Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, previously in Eden district (OS grid ref NY3426).

Relateds

Newton-with-Scales

Scales en · PROPN · etymology 2

Etymology

Plural of scale.

Meanings

1. The constellation and zodiacal sign Libra.
   • Strange, too, how the old pagan names for the constellations—the Ram, the Bull, the Twins (Castor and Pollux), the Crab, the Lion, the Virgin, the Scales, the Scorpion, the Archer, the Horned Goat, the Water-carrier, and the Fishes, have persisted all these thousands of years in spite of attempts made by philosophers of the Christian and other faiths to give them more prosaic or more religious names. 1926 November 21, “How old is the zodiac?”, in The Woodend Star, Victoria, page 4, column 6:
   • For they are so easy to recall if you do it in associated pairs—like the Maid and the Twins, the Bull and the Rain, the Fishes and the Scales. 1947 November 14, Mountain District Free Press and Frentree Gully News, Tecoma, Vic., page 8, column 2:
   • The scales should be uneven, the northern exalted, the southern depressed. 1862, [Frances Rolleston], Mazzaroth, or, The Constellations, London: Rivingtons, page 55:
   • The Ram, the Bull, the heavenly Twins, And next the Crab, the Lion shines, The Virgin and the Scales; The Scorpion, Archer, and Sea-Goat, The Man that carries the Water-pot, And Fish with glittering scales. 1893, E. W. Bullinger, Witness of the Stars, London: The author, page 16:
   • But the original figure was not forgotten: MUL.APIN still listed Libra as ‘The Scales, the horn of the Scorpion’[.] 1998, John H. Roger, “Origins of the ancient constellations: I. The Mesopotamian traditions”, in Journal of the British Astronomy Association, volume 108, number 1, page 28, column 1:

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