casso

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkas.soː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkas.so]^[1]

Forms

cassō (present infinitive cassāre, perfect active cassāvī, supine cassātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin cassus (“empty, void”) + -ō.^[1][2][3] Etymonline instead traces Late Latin ⟨cassāre⟩ to quassō “to shake, quash”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Gaffiot cites the Theodosian Code, of annulling, and Köbler lists Gregory of Tours.^[3][5] Köbler dates Gregory 538/539–594 AD.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Late Latin, it meant to bring to nothing, destroy, as in Sidonius, and in legal language to annul, make void, as in the Theodosian Code.^[2][3]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to annul, make void, destroy.^[6] English cassate (1510s, “to annul”) is from its participle cassātus.^[4]

Timeline

• 538/539–594 AD – Gregory of Tours uses it.^[5]
• 1510s – English cassate is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To annul, make void.^[3][6]
2. To bring to nothing, destroy.^[2]

Related words

• cassus
• quassō
• English cassation

Usage notes

The OLD's cassō is a Plautine word “to totter, begin to fall”, which it derives from cadō, and Lewis & Short and Wiktionary take it as a form of quassō.^[7][2][1] Gregory of Tours also has an adverb cassō “in vain”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press