esculcar

From esculca (“observation, inquiry”), from local High Middle Ages Medieval Latin sculca (“watchtower”), from Proto-Germanic *skulkan. Cognate of English skulk (“to hide”) and of Norwegian Nynorsk skulke (“to play truant”).

• IPA^(key): /eskulˈkaɾ/

esculcar (first-person singular present esculco, first-person singular preterite esculquei, past participle esculcado)

1. (transitive) to watch, to observe, to spy
   • 1370, Ramón Lorenzo, editor, Crónica troiana, page 235:

     Et coydou que era esculca que vĩjña esculcar sua terra, ca Peleus ben sabía que entre elles et troyãos auj́a grã desamor.

     And he thought that he was a spy which has come to investigate their country, because Peleus knew well that in between them and the Trojans there was a large enmity

2. (intransitive) to inquiry, to research

• Note: esculc- are changed to esculqu- before front vowels (e).

• Esculqueira

• “esculcar” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
• “esculcar” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “esculcar” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• Joan Coromines; José A. Pascual (1983–1991), “esculca”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos

Perhaps from Late Latin *sculcāre, from Proto-Germanic *skulkan.

• IPA^(key): /eskulˈkaɾ/ [es.kulˈkaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: es‧cul‧car

esculcar (first-person singular present esculco, first-person singular preterite esculqué, past participle esculcado)

1. (transitive) to spy; to investigate
2. (transitive) to search, to go through
3. to frisk

• “esculcar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014