Etymology and origin of the Romanian word casă
casă1 house
Etymology tree of casă1
From the same root · casă1
Pronunciation
- [ˈka.sə][1]
Forms
casă f (plural case or căși or căsi or căsuri)[1] Besides case, the plural is regionally căși or căsi.[2][3]
Etymology
The word for a house is inherited from Latin casa (“hut, cottage”).[4][5][2][1][6] The DA notes that in Vulgar Latin the word took the general sense of house, replacing domus and aedes.[7] The origin of the Latin word is unknown; de Vaan thinks it more likely a loanword, because of its single /s/ between vowels.[8]
The word survives in all four branches: Aromanian casã, Megleno-Romanian casă and Istro-Romanian kåsę.[4][9][10][1] Its Romance cognates include Dalmatian kuosa, Italian casa, Catalan casa, Spanish casa and Portuguese casa, and a shortened form in French chez.[4][6][5]
The adverb acasă may be a Romanian formation or continue Latin ad casam, like Italian a casa.[5] For căsător and căsători DELR gives two views: an inheritance from Vulgar Latin *casō, as in casar (“to marry”), or a Romanian derivative of casă.[4]
Earliest recorded meaning
Tiktin dates the first record to 1469;[11][4] DELR records in that year the place name Cășcioarele, a diminutive.[11][4] DELR dates the noun itself to about 1500, and the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki has casă and casele.[4][12] The Codicele Voronețean has „intrămu în casa lui Filip evanghelistul” “we entered the house of Philip the evangelist”.[7][2]
Semantic evolution
From “dwelling” the word took the senses “household”, “family”, “ruling house, dynasty” and “marriage, married life”.[13][5] An old phrase o pereche de case named one large house, and the plural case a grand town house.[11] Regionally casă still means “room”, and casa mare is the best room of a peasant house, kept for guests.[13][14][15] Figurative and popular uses include casa de păianjen “cobweb”, a snail's shell and the placenta.[2][5]
Modern Romanian uses casă de in the names of institutions: casă de economii “savings bank”, casă de cultură “cultural centre”, casă de nașteri “maternity home”.[13] The family is large and old: căsător “married man” is recorded in 1551–1553, căsătorie about 1566, casnic in 1642, acasă about 1650 and căsnicie in 1691–1697.[4]
Timeline
- 1469 – first record, with the place name Cășcioarele.[11][4]
- c. 1500 – casă in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.[4][12]
- 1551–1553 – căsător and căsători.[4]
- c. 1563–1583 – „casa lui Filip” in the Codicele Voronețean.[7][2]
- c. 1566 – căsătorie “marriage”.[4]
- 1642 – casnic “domestic; member of a household”.[4]
- c. 1650 – acasă “at home”.[4]
- 1691–1697 – căsnicie “married life”.[4]
- c. 1770 – căsuță “little house”.[4]
Meanings
Noun
- A house, a building to live in.[13] De casă: homemade.[13][1]
- (regional) A room.[13][15]
- A space in a building with a particular purpose: casa scării “stairwell”, casa liftului “lift shaft”.[13]
- A household; the people living together, a family; a dynasty.[13][5]
- Married life: a face casă bună cu cineva “to get on well with someone”.[13]
- In names of institutions and firms: casă de economii “savings bank”, casă de cultură “cultural centre”, casă de modă “fashion house”.[13][1]
- A printer's case for type.[13]
Word family
casă2 cash box, till
Etymology tree of casă2
Pronunciation
- [ˈka.sə][1]
Forms
casă f (plural case)[1] It was also written cassă.[4][7]
Etymology
The word for a cash box is borrowed from Italian cassa, also borrowed from German Kasse.[5][13][2][4] Tiktin, Scriban and DELR also name French caisse.[16][17][4] The Italian word comes from Latin capsa (“box, case for book rolls”), from capiō (“to hold, contain”).[4][18] The German word was itself borrowed from the Italian one in the 16th century.[19]
Earliest recorded meaning
DELR and Tiktin date it to 1787, with the sense “strongbox for money and valuables”.[4][16] The Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 glosses it with Latin aerarium, thesaurus “treasury” and German Casse.[20][2]
Semantic evolution
From the strongbox the word passed to the desk where money is paid, the funds themselves and financial institutions: a document of 1793 mentions the imperial deposit fund, casa împărătească.[7] The dictionaries divide the institutional uses differently: the DA puts savings banks and deposit banks under this word, DEX under casă “house”;[7][13][16][17] Tiktin and Scriban put the printer's type case here.[7][13][16][17]
The derivatives came with it or soon after: casier “cashier” in 1776, from Italian cassiere, casierie “cash office” in 1793 and încasa “to collect (money)” in 1876.[4] Transylvania had casar “cashier”.[4][5]
Timeline
- 1776 – casier “cashier”.[4]
- 1787 – casă “strongbox”, the first record of the noun.[4][16]
- 1793 – casierie and casa împărătească, a state deposit fund.[4][7]
- 1825 – in the Lexicon de la Buda.[20]
- 1876 – încasa “to collect money”.[4]
Meanings
Noun
- A safe, a steel cupboard or box for money and valuables: casă de bani.[13][21]
- The till or checkout in a shop; the cash desk or ticket office of a firm or institution.[13][1]
- The cash a firm or institution has at a given moment: registru de casă “cash book”.[13]
Word family
- casier
- casieră
- casierie
- încasa
- încasator
Related words
Usage notes
A face casa means “to cash up”, to draw up the day's takings and payments.[13] MDA2 and DEX also record casă for a disorder of wine that clouds it when exposed to air, from French casse;[2][13] MDA2 dates it to 1949.[2][13]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 304
- ^ Densusianu, Ovid (1915), Graiul din Țara Hațegului, București: Socec, p. 310
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. casă
- ^ a b c d e f g h Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. casă
- ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1728
- ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. casă
- ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 249
- ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 63
- ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cásă 1
- ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 83:3
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 150
- ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. casă
- ^ a b Ștef, Dorin (2021), Dicționar de regionalisme și arhaisme din județul Maramureș, 3rd ed., Baia Mare, p. s.v. casă
- ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cásă 2
- ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 236
- ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. cassa
- ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 478
- ^ a b Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 103
- ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. casă
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Casă.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/cas%C4%83. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.
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