cado

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈka.doː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkaː.do]^[1]

Forms

cadō (present infinitive cadere, perfect active cecidī, supine cāsum); third conjugation, impersonal in the passive^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *kad-e/o-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *(ḱe-)ḱh₂d- (“to fall”), though de Vaan marks the reconstruction as uncertain.^[2][1]

Cognate with Sanskrit शद् (śad-, “to fall off”).^[2][3][4] De Vaan notes that a link with the Greek perfect stem κεκαδ- (kekad-) is disputed.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Livius Andronicus onwards,^[2] who writes of a wounded man who, “falling, dashes himself to the ground”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to fall down or over, to drop from above, to slip from the hands, to fall out, as Plautus' first teeth, and of the sun and stars to set.^[5] Winds and the sea were said to fall, that is, to die down.^[5] It meant to fall in battle, as in Cicero's “let us fall with honour rather than live as slaves”, and cities, people and customs fell or perished.^[5]

Words fell from the lips, and dice and lots fell.^[5] Things befell people or turned out well or badly, and in rhetoric a sentence was said to fall rhythmically at its close.^[5] With in it meant to coincide with a time, to suit or fit, and to fall into a state such as suspicion; prices were said to fall.^[5] It survives as Italian cadere, Romanian cădea, Spanish caer and Portuguese cair.^[1] English case, chance, accident and decay all go back to it.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of teeth falling out.^[5][7]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it of a man killed.^[5][7]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of a throw of dice.^[5][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of falling in battle and of rhythmical sentence endings.^[5][7]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of winds dying down.^[5][7]
• early 13th century – English case comes from its noun cāsus, “a falling, chance”.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fall, fall down, drop.^[5][8]
2. To slip (from the hands); to fall out.^[5]
3. (of heavenly bodies) To set.^[5]
4. (of wind, sea) To die down, subside.^[5][1]
5. To fall (in battle), be killed.^[5][1]
6. (of cities) To fall, (of people) to be ruined.^[5]
7. To perish, pass away; to fall out of use.^[5][1]
8. (of words) To be uttered, (of dice) to fall.^[5]
9. To befall, happen; to turn out.^[5][1]
10. (rhetoric) To end (rhythmically).^[5]
11. (with in) To coincide with; to suit; to fall into (a state).^[5][1]
12. (of prices) To fall.^[5]

Word family

• accidō
• cadīvus
• cadūcus
• casito
• cassitō
• cāsus
• concadō
• concidō
• dēcidō
• excidō
• incidō
• intercidō

Related words

• occāsiō
• cadāver
• English case
• English chance
• English accident
• English decay

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes labi, to fall or glide, thinking of the point one falls from, from cadere, thinking of the point one falls to, the ground.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper