Etymology and origin of the French word casse
casse1 typographic case
Etymology tree of casse1
From the same root · casse1
Pronunciation
- /kas/[1]
Forms
casse f (plural casses)[1]
Etymology
The word for the printer's case is borrowed from Italian cassa (“box, case”), which had taken technical senses including the compositor's case.[2][3][4][5][1] The Italian word comes from Latin capsa (“box”).[1][6] It is thus a doublet of caisse and châsse.[1][3][4]
Earliest recorded meaning
The Grand Robert, Bloch and Wartburg and Rey date it to 1675, as a printing term for the compositor's case; the GLLF cites it already in Robert Estienne in 1539.[2][3][4][6]
Semantic evolution
From the position of the letters in the case came haut de casse for the capitals and bas de casse for the small letters, the latter used for lowercase type itself.[4][2] It gave casseau (1723), a compartment for surplus type, and cassier (1797), the cabinet holding the cases, while cassetin was borrowed from Italian cassettino in 1552.[4] In computing it names the distinction between capital and small letters.[1]
Timeline
- 1675 – First record as a printing term according to the Grand Robert and Rey.[2][4]
- 1723 – Casseau is recorded.[4]
- 1797 – Cassier, the cabinet of cases, is recorded.[4]
Meanings
Noun
- (printing) A case, an open box divided into compartments holding the type a compositor uses.[2][5][6]
- Haut de casse: the upper part of the case, with the capitals;[2][5] bas de casse: the lower part, with the common letters, hence a lowercase letter.[2][5]
- (computing) Letter case, capital or small.[1]
Word family
- casseau
casse2 breakage
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Derivation
- First attested
- 1640 Oudin, Curiositez françoises
- Ultimate origin
- Latin quassō
Etymology tree of casse2
From the same root · casse2
Pronunciation
Forms
casse f (plural casses)[1]
Etymology
The word for breakage is a deverbal noun from French casser (“to break”).[7][2][6][3][1] The verb comes from Latin quassō (“to shake hard, damage, break”).[3] The slang sense “burglary” (1899) may rather be a back-formation from cassement than a deverbal of the verb, according to the TLFi and the Grand Robert.[7][2]
Earliest recorded meaning
It is first recorded in 1640, in Oudin's Curiositez, in donner de la casse aux soldats “to discharge the soldiers”;[7][4] Sorel's Francion has donner de la casse à quelqu'un “to deprive someone of his post” in the same year.[7][4]
Semantic evolution
Until the 19th century the noun was mainly military, “cashiering of an officer” (1740, Académie), a sense later lost to cassation.[3][4][7] As the noun of action of casser “to break” it took root in popular speech: the surface of a break (1721) and “breaking, things broken” (1821).[7][4] It also came to mean damage and casualties from a fight or a war.[6][2] In slang it means “burglary” from 1899, used in the masculine.[7][4][8] Special senses followed in wine-making, a spoiling of wine (1906), and in trade, the breaking up of old objects (1935), whence the scrapyard for cars.[7][4][2]
Timeline
- 1640 – Donner de la casse “to discharge” in Oudin and Sorel.[7]
- 1721 – Trévoux uses it for the surface of a break.[7]
- 1740 – The Académie records it for the cashiering of an officer.[7][6]
- 1821 – Used for “breakage, things broken”.[7][4]
- 1899 – Slang casse “burglary”.[7][4][8]
- 1906 – Recorded for a disorder of wine.[7]
- 1935 – Used for the breaking up of objects.[7][4]
Meanings
Noun
- (feminine) breakage, the act of breaking; broken objects: il y a eu de la casse pendant le déménagement, payer la casse.[2][7][1]
- (feminine, familiar) Damage, injuries or losses from a fight, mayhem.[2][6][1]
- (feminine) A scrapyard where old cars are broken up: mettre une voiture à la casse.[2][1]
- (feminine, wine-making) A disorder that spoils the colour of some wines.[6][7]
- (masculine, slang) A burglary, a break-in: faire un casse.[2][8][1]
Word family
- non-casse
Related words
Usage notes
The Grand Robert numbers five words casse: casse 1, a ladle or pan used in foundries and households (1341), from Old Occitan cassa, Vulgar Latin *cattia (“pan”), which gave casserole,[2][4] and casse 2, the cassia plant and its laxative pulp (cassee 1256), from Latin cassia.[2][7] The two words given here are its casse 3 and 4, and it lists the masculine slang casse “burglary” separately as casse 5.[2]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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
- ^ a b c Bob, dictionnaire d'argot, de français familier et populaire, languefrancaise.net/Bob
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Casse.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/casse. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.
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