The Etymology of Scaffolding
Scaffolding shares a dark ancestor with the catafalque — the ceremonial platform for coffins at state funerals. Both trace to Vulgar Latin *catafalicum, probably from Latin fala, a wooden siege tower. Old French split the inheritance: eschafaud became the raised platform for both builders and executioners. English borrowed scaffold in the 14th century, and by the 15th, scaffolding described the temporary framework itself. The construction sense dominated in English, while French échafaud retained its association with the guillotine. In the 1970s, psychologist Jerome Bruner borrowed scaffolding as a metaphor for temporary learning support — help removed as competence grows, just as physical scaffolding comes down when the building stands.