casserole

Forms

casserole f (plural casseroles)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French casse (“pan, vessel”) + -erole, with a diminutive suffix that is a lengthened form of -ole.^[2][3][4][1] The Grand Robert allows that it may have been shaped after Italian cazzeruolo;^[3] Littré thought the Italian word recent and probably borrowed from French.^[5]

The base noun (1341, a ladle-shaped vessel) is from Old Occitan cassa (1327), perhaps “large ladle” and later “vessel”.^[4][6] That word represents Medieval Latin cattia (“crucible, ladle”), recorded from the 7th or 8th century, from an earlier *ciattia whose first /i/ was lost by dissimilation.^[4][6] Rey traces it to Ancient Greek κύαθος (kúathos, “cup, ladling vessel”);^[4] Bloch and Wartburg to its diminutive κυάθιον (kuáthion).^[6] The FEW files the family under the same Greek word.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as casserolle in 1583, in the inventory of Anne de Nicolay quoted by Gay, for a kitchen pan.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its sense of a cylindrical cooking pan with a handle.^[4] The cookery phrase à la casserole gave the familiar passer à la casserole (recorded 1906), from the poultry killed to be cooked, “to be put in a bad spot” (Jarry, 1896) and also “to be sexually assaulted” (1906, Esnault).^[4] Littré records an older use of the same phrase for undergoing treatment for venereal disease.^[5]

Familiar figurative senses rest on the pan's shape or its tinny sound: a worthless object or person (1849), a helmet (1916), a film projector (1924), a bad piano (1931), whence chanter comme une casserole “to sing out of tune”.^[2][4][1] In slang it meant an informer (1848), which Rey takes as a playful derivative of casser.^[2][4] From the prank of tying a pan to a dog's tail, une casserole is also a compromising affair that dogs someone (Barrès, 1902).^[4] In Belgium it names a stewpot.^[4][1]

English took casserole in 1706 for a stew pan, and by 1889 for the dish cooked in it.^[9]

Timeline

• 1583 – Casserolle appears in an inventory as a kitchen utensil.^[2]
• 1706 – English borrows it as casserole “stew pan”.^[9]
• 1838 – The derivative casserolée is recorded.^[2][4]
• 1848 – Slang uses it for an informer.^[2]
• 1849 – Augier uses it of a worthless thing or person.^[2]
• 1896 – Passer à la casserole “to be in a bad spot” appears in Jarry.^[4]
• 1902 – Barrès uses it for a compromising affair.^[4]
• 1924 – Cinema slang uses it for a projector.^[2][10]
• 1931 – It names a bad piano.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A saucepan: a cylindrical cooking pan with a flat bottom and a handle.^[11][8][1]
2. The contents of a saucepan: une casserole de lait.^[11][1]
3. À la casserole: said of dishes cooked in a saucepan.^[11][4]
4. (familiar) Passer à la casserole: to be put in a very bad position, and of a woman, to be forced to have sex.^[11][4]
5. (familiar) An out-of-tune voice or instrument, a bad piano: chanter comme une casserole.^[8][4][1]
6. (familiar) A compromising affair that harms someone's reputation: Ce ministre traîne une casserole.^[4]
7. (slang, dated) A police informer.^[8][2]
8. (Belgium) A stewpot or cooking pot.^[1][4]

Word family

• casserolée

Related words

• casse

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1602b
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
11. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert