Word Origin & History
scene
1540, "subdivision of an act of a play," also "stage-setting," from M.Fr. scène (14c.), from L. scæna, scena "scene, stage," from Gk. skene "scene, stage," originally "tent or booth," related to skia "shadow, shade," via notion of "something that gives shade," from PIE base *ska(i)- "to shine, flicker, glimmer" (cf. Skt. chaya "brilliance, luster, shadow," Alb. he "shadow," Goth. skeinan, O.E. scinan "to shine"). Meaning "place in which the action of a literary work occurs" is attested from 1592; general sense (non-literary) is recorded from 1594. U.S. slang sense of "setting or milieu for a specific group or activity" is attested from 1951 in Beat jargon. Meaning "stormy encounter between two or more persons" is attested from 1761. Behind the scenes (1668) is an image from the theater, "amid actors and stage machinery" (where patrons are not admitted). Scene of the crime (1923) first attested in Agatha Christie.