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casque

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Etymology and origin of the French word casque

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1578 after 1578, Brantôme, Traité des duels More words from the 16th century
Borrowed from
Spanish casco
Ultimate origin
Latin quassō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Spanish cascar
Spanish casco
French casque
Romanian cască
From the same root
French casquette ← casco

Pronunciation

Forms

casque m (plural casques)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish casco (“helmet, also skull and potsherd”), a deverbal noun from cascar (“to break”), from Vulgar Latin *quassicō, from Latin quassō (“to shake, shatter”), the source of casser.[2][3][4][5] The senses of the Spanish word suggest that “potsherd” was the first, as with Latin testa, which gave tête.[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg give the same origin and a first date of 1591.[6]

Littré gives Italian casco, as well as the Spanish word, as the source and rejects Ménage's derivation from Latin cassis (“helmet”).[7] The TLFi rejects Spitzer's idea that it was a back-formation from casquet (1556–1704), on sound and historical grounds.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first sure record is in Brantôme's Traité des duels (after 1578), meaning a piece of head armour.[2][3] A 15th-century quotation from Olivier Basselin, which Littré gives, comes from a text reworked in the 16th and 17th centuries.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Casque came last among the words for military headgear, after heaume and the salade, armet and morion of the 15th century, and outlived them all.[3][7] From 1690 it meant, familiarly, the head, mainly in phrases now out of use for getting drunk, such as s'en donner dans le casque (1863); avoir le casque is a hangover headache.[3][7]

By likeness it named an ornament of a coat of arms (1690), part of certain flowers (1771) and a growth on the head of some birds.[3][8] In the 20th century it spread to all kinds of protective headgear and to devices worn over the head, such as headphones and the hair dryer.[3][8][9] In Canadian French it has long been used for a soft hat, especially a fur hat.[3] English had borrowed the French word as casque in the 1570s.[10]

Timeline

  • 1570s – English casque “helmet” is recorded.[10]
  • after 1578 – Brantôme uses casque for head armour.[2][3]
  • 1591 – Bloch and Wartburg's first date.[6][11]
  • 1690 – Used familiarly for the head, and in heraldry.[3]
  • 1734 – The adjective casqué “helmeted” is recorded.[3][6]
  • 1771 – Used in botany for part of a corolla.[3][8]
  • 1845 – Used for the horny growth on some birds' heads.[8]
  • 1863 – Littré records s'en donner dans le casque “to get drunk”.[3][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A military helmet; formerly, a piece of head armour.[8][2][7]
  2. A protective helmet: casque de moto, casque de chantier, casque colonial.[8][12]
  3. Casques bleus: the peacekeeping troops of the United Nations.[8][12]
  4. Headphones, a pair of earphones joined by a headband: Elle écoute la radio au casque.[8][12][1]
  5. A hood-shaped hair dryer.[8][12][9]
  6. (literary) A thick head of hair.[12][8]
  7. (familiar) The head;[8][3] avoir le casque, to have a headache.[8][3]
  8. (heraldry) A helmet shown above the shield.[12][7]
  9. (botany) The upper, helmet-shaped part of the corolla of some flowers.[8][12]
  10. (zoology) A horny growth on the head or bill of certain birds.[8][1]
  11. (Canada) A soft hat, especially a fur hat.[3]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 n o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  11. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Casque.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/casque. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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