Editing Scafell Pike (section)

== Etymology and name history==
{{See also|Scafell#Name history}}

The name ''Scafell'' is believed by some to derive from the Old Norse ''skalli fjall'', meaning either the fell with the [[shieling]] or the fell with the bald summit, and is first recorded in 1578 in the corrupted form ''Skallfield''.<ref>{{cite web|author=Stuart Rae|url=http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/stuart.rae/fells.htm|title=Fells}}</ref>

Alternatively, ''Scafell'' means "the mountain of the ''scaw'' (or [[promontory]])". This usage can be compared etymologically with, for example, [[Skaw, Unst]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Blackie |first1=C |title=Geographical Etymology; a Dictionary of Place-names, giving their derivations |date=1887 |publisher=John Murray |location=London |page=78 |edition=third |url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Geographical_etymology_-_a_dictionary_of_place-names_giving_their_derivations_%28IA_cu31924029820556%29.pdf |access-date=31 January 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Definition of SCAW |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scaw |website=www.merriam-webster.com |access-date=31 January 2025 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ferguson |first1=Robert |title=The dialect of Cumberland, with a chapter on its place-names |date=1873 |publisher=Williams and Norgate |location=London |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044010158277&seq=222 |language=en}}</ref>

The name originally referred to [[Scafell]], which neighbours Scafell Pike.<ref name= DW>Dorothy Wordsworth's ascent of Scafell Pike, 1818, http://www.pastpresented.ukart.com/eskdale/wordsworth1.htm</ref> What are now known as Scafell Pike, [[Ill Crag]], and [[Broad Crag]] were collectively called either ''the Pikes'' (peaks) or ''the Pikes of Scawfell'' (see below regarding spelling); from many angles, Scafell seems to be the highest peak, and the others were thus considered subsidiary to it. The name ''Scawfell Pikes'' was adopted "by common consent" according to [[Jonathan Otley]], shortly before the publication of the 4th edition of his guidebook in 1830.<ref name="Otley 4th ed">{{cite book|last1=Otley|first1=Jonathan|title=A concise description of the English lakes, and adjacent mountains: with general directions to tourists; notices of the botany, mineralogy, and geology of the district; observations on meteorolgy; the floating island in Derwent lake; and black-lead mine in Borrowdale.|date=1830|publisher=author|location=Keswick|edition=4th|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008646574|page=64|access-date=13 Jun 2017}}</ref> Up to this point, England's highest mountain (its status as such was not known until the early 1800s) did not have a name of its own; it was labelled ''Sca-Fell Higher Top'' by the Ordnance Survey in their initial work in Cumbria in the first decade of the 19th century.<ref name="Mudge">{{cite book|last1=Mudge|first1=Lieutenant-Colonel William|last2=Colby|first2=Captain Thomas|title=An Account of the Trigonometrical Survey Carried on by Order of the Master-General of His Majesty's Ordnance in the Years 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, 1804, 1805, 1806, 1807, 1808 and 1809|date=1811|publisher=W Faden|location=Charing Cross, London|url=ftp://ftp.library.noaa.gov/docs.lib/htdocs/rescue/rarebooks_1600-1800/QB296G81799v3.pdf}}</ref> The newly developed name reported by Otley first appeared on a published Ordnance Survey map in 1865.

Formerly the name was spelled ''Scawfell'', which better reflects local pronunciation.<ref name="DW" /><ref name="Martineau">{{cite book |title=A Complete Guide to the English Lakes |last=Martineau |first=Harriet|url=https://archive.org/stream/completeguidetoe1855mart#page/n7/mode/2up |date=1855 |location=Windermere |publisher=John Garnett |via=Archive.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Holland|first1=CF|title=Climbs on the Scawfell Group – A Climbers' Guide.|date=1924|publisher=Fell & Rock Climbing Club|edition=1st}}</ref><ref group=note>These references on spelling of "Scafell"/"Scawfell" are examples of the more common usage during the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century, as can readily be found in the many contemporary guidebooks and local and national newspapers. A useful contrast is the difference in [[M. J. B. Baddeley|Baddely]]'s guide (1st edn. 1888 and many later editions) between the guide text ("Scafell", following the maps used in this common guide-book) and all the adverts therein of hotels, tours and views, which were placed by local businesses ("Scawfell").</ref> This spelling has declined due to the Ordnance Survey's use of ''Scafell'' on their 1865 map and thereafter.