The raising of a matter to a level with more authority. Escalation admits that the present level cannot settle it.
English escalate, a back-formation from escalator (a 1900 trademark), itself built from elevator and Latin scala (a ladder, a flight of stairs).
The word has no ancient root at all: it was reverse-built from escalator, a 1900 trademark for a moving staircase, itself stitched from elevator and the Latin word for a ladder. Escalation still carries the shape of that staircase — each step handing a matter up to the one above it.