ラテン語のscrupulus, scruple, scruple, conscienceから、scrupus, small stone, crumbから、おそらくPIE*sker, to cut, sliceから、語源的にはscar, scree, scrapと同じ。
英語の語源
scruple
scruple: [16] Latin scrūpus meant ‘sharp stone’, and the notion of something troubling the mind like a painful stone in the shoe led to its metaphorical use for ‘anxiety, doubt, particularly over a moral issue’. Both meanings were carried over into the diminutive form scrūpulus, which also came to be used for a very small unit of weight. This passed into English via French scrupule as scruple, on the way losing the literal sense ‘small stone’.
scruple (v.)
"to have or make scruples," 1620s, from scruple (n.). Related: Scrupled; scrupling.
scruple (n.)
"moral misgiving, pang of conscience," late 14c., from Old French scrupule (14c.), from Latin scrupulus "uneasiness, anxiety, pricking of conscience," literally "small sharp stone," diminutive of scrupus "sharp stone or pebble," used figuratively by Cicero for a cause of uneasiness or anxiety, probably from the notion of having a pebble in one's shoe. The word in the more literal Latin sense of "small unit of weight or measurement" is attested in English from late 14c.
例文
1. He acted wrongly and without scruple .
彼は間違ったことをしても後ろめたさがない.
2.The villain made no scruple of committing murder.
その悪党は人を殺してもまばたきをしない。
3.He did not scruple to talk crudely either.
若者は何の拘束もなく、暴言や愚かな言葉をたくさん加えている。dd> 漢英文学-中国現代小説から
4.She didn 't scruple to take Tom from his wife.
彼女は迷わずトムの妻からトムを奪った。
5.My only scruple in advising the match was on his account.