cascina

cascina¹ cheese hoop

Etymology tree of cascina¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin capsa

French châsse

Italian cascina

Italian cassa

French casse

Romanian casă

From the same root · cascina¹

English casing ← capsa

French châssis ← capsa

Latin capsula ← capsa

Italian cassetta ← cassa

French casserole ← casse

Romanian acasă ← casă

Romanian căsar ← casă

Pronunciation

• /kaʃˈʃi.na/^[1]

Forms

cascina f (plural cascine)^[1] Tuscan also has a masculine form, cascino, recorded from 1781.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

The word for the cheese hoop is probably inherited from Latin capsa (“box, container”).^[2][5] The GDLI, Gabrielli and Sabatini–Coletti derive it through a Vulgar Latin form *capsia, as they do the northern word for the farmstead.^[3][6][7] Nocentini treats the Tuscan cheese mould as a use of the same Romance diminutive of capsa, and the LEI files the vessel and the farm building together under a Latin *capsina.^[4][8] DEI keeps the cheese hoop apart from the farmstead.^[9]

capsa itself is probably formed as a Proto-Italic *kapso- (“container”) from capiō (“to take, seize”).^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is from Targioni Tozzetti in 1759: a ring of wood inside which curdled milk is pressed to make cheese.^[2] Targioni Tozzetti says that around Florence these moulds are called cascine: bands of beech wood bent into a circle and tied with a cord, with neither bottom nor lid, set on a board, into which the cheese curd is pressed hard for some time.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The masculine cascino appears in Tuscan tariffs of 1781.^[2] The thin, flexible beech board from which such hoops and small boxes were made came to be called legno di cascina, or simply cascina.^[11][3][12] GRADIT and Sabatini–Coletti also give the word for the beech shelf on which the fresh cheeses are laid out to dry and season.^[13][7] The word has stayed Tuscan.^[5][12][7]

Timeline

• 1759 – Targioni Tozzetti describes the cascine used for cheese around Florence.^[2][3]
• 1781 – The masculine cascino is recorded in Tuscan tariffs.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Tuscan) A thin hoop of beech wood in which curdled milk is pressed to make cheese, a cheese mould: Il casaro riempì la cascina di cagliata.^[5][12][6]
2. (Tuscan) A thin, flexible board of beech wood used to make boxes and crates, also called legno di cascina.^[5][12][6]
3. (Tuscan) A beech-wood shelf on which fresh cheeses are set to dry and age.^[7][13]

cascina² farmstead

Pronunciation

• /kaʃˈʃi.na/^[1]

Forms

cascina f (plural cascine)^[1] Old Italian cassina, plural cassine, is the Old Italian form.^[14] Dialect forms include Lombard casina, Piedmontese casina and Emilian casena “hayloft” at Imola and Parma.^[9]

Etymology

The word for the farmstead is a northern Italian word, probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *capsia, a variant of classical Latin capsa (“box, container”).^{[2][13][15][7]} It appears early in Medieval Latin: Medieval Latin cassina is recorded in Lombardy in 781, and other medieval forms include capsina, casina and caxina.^[2][8] cassinale is attested at Lucca in 939.^[2]

Nocentini sees a Romance diminutive of capsa, extended to the wooden buildings beside the farmhouse: the cowshed, the hayloft and the storehouse.^[4] The LEI files the word under a Latin *capsina “rural building; container”, and the TLIO cites Salvioni's reconstruction *capsjina.^[8][14] The usual outcome of Latin ⟨ps⟩ is /ss/, as in cassa.^[16] Forms with a palatal sibilant, such as this one, seem to presuppose a base *capsea.^[16]

Meyer-Lübke derived the word from capsum (“body of a carriage; cage for wild animals”), and the GDLI and Gabrielli from capsus “enclosure for animals”.^[17][3][6] Tommaseo derived it from cascio, an old form of cacio “cheese”.^[11] Körting judged that derivation hard to accept on phonetic grounds, but found Salvioni's base unlikely too.^[18] Meyer-Lübke and the GDLI allow that the word for cheese may have influenced the sense “dairy”.^[17][3]

capsa itself is probably formed as a Proto-Italic *kapso- (“container”) from capiō (“to take, seize”).^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record in the TLIO is cassina in a Pavese paraphrase of the Neminem laedi of 1342, for a small dwelling or one outside the town, typically in the country.^[14] The form cascina is recorded before 1604 in Adriani's writings.^[2][13] Zingarelli dates it 1554.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the Po valley the word names a large farm: dwellings, cowsheds, haylofts, dairies and storerooms set around a great courtyard.^[12][19] In Emilia it is the hayloft above the cowshed and the room beside the dairy where the year's grana cheese is kept, and in Tuscany a cowshed where butter and cheese are made.^[12] In northern Italy it has also come to mean a farm producing mainly milk.^[15][5] Le Cascine in Florence, now a large park, is named after the dairy farms that once stood there.^[12][11]

Derivatives followed: cascinaio, the owner or overseer of a cascina (1773, Targioni Tozzetti), and cascinale, a cascina or a group of them (1799).^[2] The northern Italian word passed into French as cassine, first recorded in Marot in 1509.^[20][9] In French it meant a farmstead, then a country house or a poor one (1532), and in military use a small isolated house used for an ambush (1752).^[20][9][8]

Timeline

• 781 – Medieval Latin cassina is recorded in Lombardy.^[2]
• 939 – Cassinale appears in a Medieval Latin document from Lucca.^[2]
• 1342 – A Pavese paraphrase of the Neminem laedi uses cassina.^[14]
• 1509 – French cassine is first recorded, in Marot.^[20][9]
• 1554 – Zingarelli's date for cascina.^[5]
• Before 1604 – Cascina is recorded in Adriani.^[2][13]
• 1773 – Cascinaio is recorded in Targioni Tozzetti.^[2]
• 1799 – Cascinale appears in a collection of ordinances.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A group of farm buildings, with dwellings, cowsheds, haylofts and storerooms, set around a large courtyard, typical of northern Italy: Sono cresciuti in una cascina della Bassa.^[13][15][12]
2. (northern Italy) A farmhouse or farm, especially one producing mainly milk and dairy products.^[13][15][5]
3. (regional) A hayloft above the cowshed.^[13][12] Also the room where cheese, especially the year's grana, is stored to age.^[13][12]
4. (Tuscan) A cowshed with rooms for making butter and cheese, a dairy.^[13][12][6]

Word family

• cascinaio
• cascinale
• cascinotto
• cascinetta