caso

Forms

caso m (plural casos)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cāsus (“a fall; an event, chance”), a learned word according to Wiktionary.^[1] Houaiss, Cunha and Nascentes simply derive it from the Latin noun.^[2][3][4] Houaiss records the 15th-century spellings Old Galician-Portuguese causo (1443), Old Galician-Portuguese caubsso (1450), Old Galician-Portuguese casso and Old Galician-Portuguese quasso.^[2]

The same Latin word is Galician caso, Spanish caso, Catalan cas, French cas and Italian caso.^[1] Corominas also treats the Spanish word as taken from Latin, first recorded early in the 15th century.^[5] The French word was first written quas about 1220.^[6]

The Latin noun is formed from cadō (“to fall, happen”) with the suffix of action nouns -tus, and was once written cassus.^[7][1] Wiktionary traces the verb to Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂d- (“to fall”), and notes that the grammatical sense of the Latin word copies Ancient Greek πτῶσις (ptôsis).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to the 13th century from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese, and the Universo Cantigas glossary records it in a cantiga in the sense “lawsuit”.^[2][8] Lorenzo's chronology has it in documents of 1431, ou ouuer tal caso ou negocio por que non posa usar do dito oficio “or should he have such a case or business that he cannot exercise the said office”, and 1433, nos casos honde couber morte “in the cases that carry the death penalty”.^[9] A Galician lease of 1435 from Noia covers the tenant against fire, water, war et de todo outro caso fortetuýto “and every other chance event”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The medieval documents use the word for a case at law, a matter in hand and a chance event.^[9] Barbosa in 1611 has não fazer caso “to disregard”, and Pereira in 1697 gives the sense “esteem”, still alive in fazer caso de.^[10][11][12] The adverb a caso “by chance” is in Morais, and Figueiredo in 1899 adds the case of a disease.^[13][14]

The conditional use grew in phrases: a Noia document of 1499 has caso que “supposing that”, Bluteau and Folqman em caso que and dado caso que; today caso alone introduces a condition with the subjunctive.^{[9][15][16][17]} In Brazil the word also means a tale or anecdote, and a love affair, especially a secret one, or the lover in it.^[2][18] In Rio Grande do Sul the variant causo is a story told by the fire in the ranch sheds.^[19]

Timeline

• 13th century – first record, in Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese.^[2]
• 1430 – the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437) uses the word.^[20]
• 1431 – tal caso ou negocio in a document.^[9]
• 1435 – todo outro caso fortetuýto in a lease from Noia.^[9]
• 1443 – the spelling causo.^[2]
• 1499 – caso que “supposing that” in a document from Noia.^[9]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary glosses it with Latin casus.^[21]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists não fazer caso “to disregard”.^[10]
• 1697 – Pereira gives the sense “esteem”.^[11]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records the case of a disease, and descaso “disregard” is first recorded.^[14][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Something that happens or may happen; an event, occurrence.^[2][22]
2. (law) A lawsuit, cause.^[2]
3. An act or deed: um caso de corrupção.^[2]
4. A circumstance or situation: nesse caso, não vou.^[2][23]
5. An affair that causes a stir around a person or event.^[2]
6. A story, tale or anecdote.^[2][18][1]
7. A quarrel or disagreement; a row.^[2][22]
8. An instance of a disease: dois casos de sarampo.^[2][24]
9. (Brazil) A love affair, especially a secret one; the lover in such an affair.^[2][1]
10. Regard, esteem: fazer caso de.^[24][12]
11. (grammar) case, the form or category that shows a noun's function in the sentence.^[2][1]

Conjunction

1. if, in case; used with the subjunctive: caso chova, ficamos.^[2][17][1]

Word family

• acaso
• descaso

Related words

• casual
• casuística
• cair
• Latin cāsus
• Spanish caso

Usage notes

The Brazilian causo, a story told aloud, is the same word in a popular form.^[19] Common phrases are caso contrário “otherwise” and the legal caso fortuito “act of God” and caso omisso “a case the law does not provide for”.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. caso
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. caso
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 102
5. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 909
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. cas
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. cāsus
8. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. caso
9. ^ a b c d e f g Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. caso
10. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. caso
11. ^ a b Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. caso
12. ^ a b Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. caso
13. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 242
14. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 261
15. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. caso
16. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. caso
17. ^ a b Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. caso
18. ^ a b Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. caso
19. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. caso
20. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. caso
21. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. caso
22. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. caso
23. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1866
24. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. caso