casta

Forms

casta f (plural castas)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[2] Nascentes, Cunha and Machado take it as from Portuguese casto (“chaste, pure”), its feminine used as a noun for a pure breed without mixture.^[2][3][4] The DLP, Michaelis and Aulete agree, and the REW lists it under Latin castus (“chaste, pure”).^[5][6][7] Vieira argued as early as 1871 that the word is not Indian, but simply the Portuguese adjective “pure, unmixed” used as a noun.^[8]

Corominas, as García de Diego reports, considers the word one of the Iberian Peninsula with an uncertain origin, and proposes Gothic *𐌺𐌰𐍃𐍄𐍃 (*kasts, “group of animals; brood of birds”), comparing the English word cast and Swedish kast.^[9][10][11] He points to Galician caste (“lineage; kind”), a feminine noun, as the form closest to the Germanic one, the others having been reshaped by the gender.^[9][10] Wiktionary sets out both explanations, the Gothic word going back to Proto-Germanic *kastōną (“to throw”).^[1] Aurélio calls the origin uncertain.^[12]

Spanish casta is recorded from 1417 and Catalan casta from the 15th century.^[9][10] The Latin adjective is of uncertain origin; the OLD suggests it may be a participle of careō (“to lack, be free of”).^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the noun to the 15th century from the index of medieval Portuguese.^[2] Corominas gives 1516 for Portuguese casta.^[10] In Cardoso's dictionary of 1569 it is glossed with the Latin words for “offspring, progeny”.^[14]

Semantic evolution

The early dictionaries use the word for descent and family: Barbosa (1611) has homem de boa casta “a man of good family” and its opposite de bayxa casta, and Bluteau (1712–1728) gives lineage and family, with que casta de homem he esta? “what kind of man is this?”.^[15][16] Folqman (1755) speaks of muitas castas de cães, e de cavallos “many breeds of dogs and horses”.^[17] Morais (1789) notes that the word was by then used mostly of animal breeds, and of people chiefly in homem de má casta.^[18]

In India the Portuguese applied it to the hereditary classes of Hindu society, and Vieira's dictionary (1871–1874) puts that sense first.^[8] Corominas says that from this Portuguese use the word spread to all the modern languages as “a closed social class without mixture with the others”; the REW names French caste, and Wiktionary lists the borrowing Malay kasta.^[10][7][1] From there it came to mean any closed hereditary group, a privileged clique, and in biology a strain of a species and the castes of social insects.^[2] In Portugal it is the usual word for a grape variety, and in wine tasting the aroma a variety gives the wine.^[2][19]

Timeline

• 15th century – first record, in Houaiss's dating.^[2]
• 1516 – the date Corominas gives for Portuguese casta.^[10]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses casta as “offspring, progeny”.^[14]
• 1611 – Barbosa has homem de boa casta and de má casta.^[15]
• 1755 – Folqman speaks of breeds of dogs and horses.^[17]
• 1789 – Morais finds the word used mostly for animal breeds.^[18]
• 1871 – Vieira defines it first as each of the castes of India.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A caste: in the traditional social order of India, a closed hereditary group whose members share race, occupation or religion.^[2][6][1]
2. Any closed hereditary social group or rigid system of social stratification.^[2][20]
3. (derogatory) A group set apart by its privileges, habits or prejudices: a casta dos banqueiros.^[2][21]
4. (biology) A breed or strain: a group within an animal or plant species with similar hereditary features.^[2][12][1]
5. (entomology) Each of the adult forms of social insects such as ants and termites, as the soldiers or the workers.^[2]
6. lineage, race, stock.^[2][12][1]
7. Kind, quality, nature.^[2][22]
8. (viticulture) A grape variety; in wine tasting, the aroma it gives the wine.^[2][21][19]

Related words

• casto
• castiço
• Latin castus
• Spanish casta
• Galician caste

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. casta
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. casta
5. ^ 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. casta
6. ^ 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. casta
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1751
8. ^ a b c Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 2, 136
9. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 913
10. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. casta
11. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. castus
12. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. casta
13. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. castus
14. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. casta
15. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. casta
16. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. casta
17. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. casta
18. ^ a b 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, 243
19. ^ a b Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. casta
20. ^ 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. casta
21. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1871
22. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. casta