scansion

The word 'scansion' originates from the Latin verb 'scandere', which meant 'to climb' or 'to clamber'. In the context of poetry, this evolved into the specific sense of 'climbing' through or measuring the metrical feet of a verse, akin to ascending a ladder rung by rung. The suffix '-sion' (from Latin '-sio') was added to form a noun denoting the action or result of this process. Thus, the literal concept of climbing step-by-step was metaphorically applied to the analytical process of marking the stressed and unstressed syllables in a poetic line, giving us the modern abstract meaning of metrical analysis.

Structure: scan (to examine) + sion (noun suffix) 'scan' is from Latin 'scandere', meaning 'to climb, ascend, scan (verse)'. 'sion' is a Latin-derived noun-forming suffix indicating an action or process.