Etymologically
← History of cassis

cassis Latin · revision 8151

16 Oct 2026, 15:30 by bogdan “Split homographs into {{homograph}} blocks” current version

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+ {{homograph|1|helmet}}
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{{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=borrowing|attested=Plautus}}
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* [[cassīta]]
+ {{homograph|2|hunting net}}
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+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=Virgil}}
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+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈkas.sɪs]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkas.sis]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''cassis''' ''m'' (genitive cassis); third declension^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ The net is of uncertain origin.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan finds a link with [[catēna]] “chain”, and perhaps [[caterva]] “band”, very attractive, from a root *kat- “to string together, plait”.^(de Vaan 2008) Pokorny reconstructs [[ine-pro|*kat-|t=to link, weave together]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)^(Wiktionary) Martirosyan connects it, with ''catēna'', with [[xcl|ցանց|tr=cʻancʻ|t=casting-net]], from a Mediterranean substrate.^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Virgil's ''Georgics'' first use it, of stags hunted without nets in the northern snows; it is usually plural, ''cassēs''.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Georges 1913)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It was a net for smaller game, as Döderlein notes, beside the stronger ''plagae'' for larger animals.^(Döderlein 1874) Virgil and Martial use it of a spider's web, and Tibullus and Ovid of a lover's snare.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Medieval writers kept both the hunter's net and the spider's web.^(MLW)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil, of hunting nets and a spider's web.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 55–19/18 BC – Tibullus, of a lover's snare.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)
+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of a boar escaping the nets.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # ''(usually plural)'' A hunting [[m|en|net]].^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)
+ # A [[m|en|spider's web]].^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)
+ # ''(figurative)'' A [[m|en|snare]], trap.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)
+
==Related words==
+ * [[caterva]]
* [[galea]]
* [[en|hat]]
− ==Usage notes==
− A different word ''cassis, cassis'' (masculine, usually plural ''cassēs'') meant a hunting net, a spider's web and figuratively a trap; de Vaan connects it with [[catēna]] “chain”.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)
−
==References==
{{reflist}}