caisse French · revision 15871

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1346–1347|origins=la capsa}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kɛs/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /kɛːs/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''caisse''' ''f'' (plural caisses)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Quecce'' (1365), ''quesse'' (Amyot); the variant ''casse'' was common in the 16th century and gave way to ''caisse'' in the second half of the 17th.^(TLF-Étym)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|pro|caissa|t=box, chest; reliquary]] (13th century),^(TLF-Étym)^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) from [[la|capsa|t=box for books; case for fruit]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(FEW|2, 312b) probably borrowed through trade between the south and the north of France.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The TLFi holds that a Latin intermediate [[la-vul|*capsea]], assumed by Bloch and Wartburg and the FEW, is not needed, Latin ⟨ps⟩ giving Occitan ⟨is⟩ as in [[m|la|ipsum]] beside [[m|pro|eis]];^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) the medieval Latin forms of that type are later and probably latinise the Occitan word.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ The TLF-Étym explains that “caisse” is an Occitanism, while “casse” came partly from [[it|cassa]] and partly from northern dialects that kept Latin /k/ before /a/;^(TLF-Étym) “casse” was driven out by 17th-century purists.^(TLF-Étym) The inherited French outcome of the Latin word is [[châsse]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLF-Étym records it in 1346–1347, at the galley yard of Marseille, for crates in which tiles were carried;^(TLF-Étym) earlier northern forms ''chesse'', ''chasse'' and ''quasse'' are found from 1278.^(TLF-Étym)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the basic sense of a large box for packing and carrying goods, it came to name a drum (1611, ''battre la caisse'', ''grosse caisse''),^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) the strongbox for money (1636, ''tenir la caisse'' 1690), then the funds themselves (1690), a fund-holding institution (1673, ''caisse d'épargne'') and the cash desk (1723).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''Caisse noire'' “secret funds” dates from 1882.^(TLFi)

+

+ Technical senses include the body of a musical instrument (1820), a ship's water tank (1831) and the body of a carriage (1832) or a motor car (1906);^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF) from this, ''caisse'' became a slang word for an aeroplane (1918) and a car (about 1970: ''à fond la caisse'' “flat out”).^(DHLF 1992) In the 16th to 18th centuries it also meant a coffin, a sense the TLF-Étym takes from Franco-Provençal and which gave way to ''bière'' and ''cercueil''.^(TLF-Étym) Popular speech uses it for the belly (1808), the head (1916) and the chest (1928).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1278 – Northern ''chesse'', ''quasse''.^(TLF-Étym)

+ * 1346–1347 – ''Caisses'' at Marseille.^(TLF-Étym)

+ * 1553 – ''Caisse'' in Belon.^(TLFi)

+ * 1611 – “Drum”, in Cotgrave.^(TLFi)

+ * 1636 – “Money chest”, in Monet.^(TLFi)

+ * 1673 – A fund-holding institution.^(TLFi)

+ * 1723 – “Cash desk”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1882 – ''Caisse noire''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1906 – The body of a motor car.^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A large box or [[m|en|crate]] for packing and carrying goods; its contents: ''une caisse de vin''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # A box for other uses: ''caisse à outils''; a plant tub.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # A cash box; a [[m|en|till]] or cash register; a supermarket [[m|en|checkout]].^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # Funds; an institution that holds them: ''caisse d'épargne'', ''caisse noire''.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The body of a vehicle, ''(colloquial)'' a car.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # A drum: ''grosse caisse'', ''caisse claire''.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(anatomy)'' ''Caisse du tympan'': the middle ear.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[caisson]]

+ * [[encaisser]]

+ * [[caissier]]

+ * [[décaisser]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[capsule]]

+ * [[châsse]]

+ * [[casse]]

+ * [[cassette]]

+ * [[pro|caissa]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}