cascade

Forms

cascade f (plural cascades)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian cascata (“fall, waterfall”), the feminine past participle, used as a noun, of cascare (“to fall”).^[2][3][4] In Italian the noun meant a fall of rocks or lava in the 15th century, and a waterfall in the 16th.^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg think French probably took it in the sense of artificial waterfalls.^[5] The Italian verb comes from Vulgar Latin *casicō (“to fall”),^[5][6][7][8] which is formed on Latin cāsus, the past participle of cadō (“to fall”).^[8][9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Oudin first records the word in 1640, under Italian cascata, in the sense of a waterfall.^[2][4][6]

Semantic evolution

In 1648 Scarron used cascade figuratively for a fall or tumble, a sense that revived the meaning of the Italian verb but did not take hold.^[2][3] The later figurative uses grew out of the waterfall: from 1740 the Académie records it for something that comes about not directly but through a series of rebounds,^[6] and in the 19th century it was applied to anything that falls or follows in successive waves, as in cascade de rire, with the adverbial phrase en cascade.^[3][6]

In 19th-century familiar language it meant an escapade (1808), and in actors' slang an unexpected joke added to the text (1858).^[6] That theatrical sense gave the verb cascader “to clown, to ad-lib” (1860) and cascadeur (1859), which passed to acrobatics (1898) and to the stunt doubles of the cinema.^[3] From these, cascade came to mean a stunt.^[3][11] In electricity, a montage en cascade is one in series.^[11]

English borrowed the word from French in the 1640s.^[9]

Timeline

• 1640 – Oudin records cascade “waterfall”.^[2][4]
• 1648 – Scarron uses it figuratively for a fall or tumble.^[2][3]
• 1640s – English borrows the word as cascade.^[9]
• 1740 – The Académie records the sense “series of rebounds”.^[6]
• 1771 – The verb cascader is first found.^[3]
• 1808 – Cascade “escapade” is recorded in familiar language.^[6]
• 1858 – Actors' slang uses it for an ad-libbed joke.^[6]
• 1859 – Cascadeur appears, first as a theatre word.^[3]
• 1898 – Cascadeur is applied to acrobats.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A waterfall, a fall of water where a river drops over steep ground; also a series of such falls, natural or artificial.^[11][2][10]
2. (figurative) A rapid series of things following one another: cascade de rire;^[11][3][6] en cascade, one after another, in a chain.^[11][3][6]
3. (electricity) Montage en cascade: a connection in series.^[11]
4. A stunt, a dangerous scene performed in a film or a perilous sporting feat.^[11][1]
5. (juggling) A cascade pattern.^[1]

Word family

• cascader

Related words

• cascadeur
• cascatelle
• choir
• Italian cascata
• Latin cadō
• English cascade

Usage notes

Rey treats the stunt sense as a second noun cascade, formed from the verb cascader in its later sense.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1739
8. ^ a b Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
9. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
11. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert