cassa

Forms

cassa f (plural casse, diminutive cassétta or cassétto m, augmentative cassóne m, pejorative cassàccia)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin capsa (“box, case”), with the regular assimilation of /ps/ to /ss/.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The same word is Old French chasse “reliquary” (French châsse), Occitan caissa, Catalan caixa, Spanish caja and Portuguese caixa;^[3][6][7] French caisse was taken from Occitan, and the Spanish and Portuguese words from Catalan or Occitan.^[3][6][7]

The forms with a palatal sound, such as the Old Pisan cascia, led several scholars to posit a variant Vulgar Latin *capsea or *capsia.^[3][8][9] The LEI follows Corominas in treating the Occitan form as a regular development of /ps/, as in other Occitan words, and notes that Meyer-Lübke accepted *capsea only for Logudorese kássya “loom frame” and a Lucanian form.^[5]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[2] Nocentini and the GDLI derive it from capiō (“to take; to hold”), and de Vaan thinks it probably a derivative *kapso- (“container”) of that verb, or a formation built directly on a present stem in /s/.^[3][10][11] The Treccani rejects this link with the verb as folk etymology, and Devoto compares the formation with noxa (“harm”) beside noceō (“to harm”).^[12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the expense accounts of the Comune of Prato of 1275, as chasse, in the sense of a box-shaped container for keeping or sending goods.^[2][9][5] GRADIT dates the word to 1288–1290, another Prato account.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

A chest for money and valuables is named in the Novellino (13th century). In the 14th century cassa also came to mean the money a person or a firm holds: the Peruzzi company's ledger (1335–1346) uses it for the firm's funds.^[2] The TLIO adds Old Italian senses such as a chest for a guild's documents, a coffin, and the body of a cart.^[9] Cassa (da morto) “coffin” is a use shared with south-western French dialects and Catalan, while in the south of Italy an Arabic loanword prevails.^[7]

The word then spread to hollow casings of all kinds: the frame of the loom (Boccaccio, 1353), the cavity of the heart (1474), the case of a watch and the stock of a gun (1561), the type case of printers (1585) and the sound box of instruments (1679).^[2] The printers' sense passed into French as casse.^[7][14]

The banking sense grew with the casse di risparmio (savings banks), the first of which in Italy opened in Milan in 1823.^[8] German borrowed Kasse (in Austria Kassa) in 1514, and English cash (1595) came from French or Italian.^[14] Compounds include cassapanca (before 1388) and cassaforte, modelled on French coffre-fort;^[2] cassiere (1383) has a suffix of French origin but is older than French caissier.^[2]

Timeline

• 1275 – The expense records of the Comune of Prato have the first record.^[2][9]
• 13th century – The Novellino uses it for a chest for money.^[2]
• 1335–1346 – The Peruzzi ledger uses it for a firm's funds.^[2]
• 1353 – Boccaccio uses it for part of the loom, and has cassone.^[2]
• 1383 – Cassiere is first recorded.^[2]
• 1474 – Cassa del cuore names a cavity of the body.^[2]
• 1514 – German Kasse is first recorded.^[14]
• 1561 – Alessandro Citolini uses it for a watch case and a gun stock.^[2]
• 1585 – Tommaso Garzoni uses it for the printers' type case.^[2]
• 1823 – The first Italian cassa di risparmio opens in Milan.^[8]
• 1866 – Cassa forte appears in the fifth Crusca dictionary.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A box, crate or chest of wood, metal or cardboard for storing or transporting things; also its contents: Abbiamo comprato una cassa di pomodori.^[4][15][16]
2. cassa da morto: a coffin.^[4][16][17]
3. (history) Any squared chest-like piece of furniture of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, such as the cassapanca or the cassone.^[4][12]
4. A strongbox or safe for money and valuables.^[4][16][18]
5. The money or funds available to a person, firm or state; the money itself: Il tesoriere si è dileguato portandosi via la cassa.^[4][19]
6. A cash register; the checkout or cash desk where customers pay; the counter of a bank where payments are made: Lo scontrino si fa alla cassa.^[4][16][19]
7. In the names of savings banks and public funds, especially for welfare: Cassa di Risparmio, cassa integrazione.^[4][19]
8. A hollow casing: the case of a watch;^[17][2] (music) the sound box of an instrument (cassa di risonanza); a loudspeaker cabinet (cassa acustica).^[17][2]
9. (anatomy) A cavity of the body: cassa toracica, the rib cage.^[17][19]
10. The wooden stock of a firearm.^[18][2]
11. (nautical) A tank built into a ship's hull, for fresh water, ballast or trim.^[15][17]
12. (music) A drum, especially the bass drum (grancassa).^[1][8]

Word family

• cassetta
• cassetto
• cassettone
• cassone
• cassiere
• cassapanca
• cassaforte
• cassaforma
• cassettiera
• cassonetto
• incassare
• incasso
• grancassa

Related words

• cascina
• capire
• Latin capsa
• French caisse
• French châsse

Usage notes

Battere cassa means “to ask for money”.^[16] Cassa is also a form of the verb cassare and the feminine of the old adjective casso “vain, empty”, which has a separate source, Latin cassus.^[19][20]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 11, 696
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 794
8. ^ a b c d Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 252
9. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2, 843
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
15. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
16. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
17. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
18. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
19. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
20. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org