cască

Forms

cască f (plural căști)^[1] An old plural is cășci: an army record printed in the Uricariul describes infantry „după modelul rusesc, cu căşci şi şepci” “on the Russian model, with helmets and caps”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French casque.^{[4][5][3][6][7][1]} Scriban takes it through Russian каска (káska), itself from French, and DELR also names the Russian word as a source after an earlier dictionary.^[8][5]

The French word is from Spanish casco, which meant “helmet” and also “skull” and “potsherd”.^[2][5][9] It is the noun of cascar (“to break”), from Vulgar Latin *quassicō, a derivative of quassō (“to shake, shatter”), the frequentative of quatiō.^[5][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is of 1793.^[7][5] In 1848 Negulici defines каскъ as armour that protects the head.^[10] Tiktin quotes Sihleanu's line „Căști, suliți sfărâmate” “broken helmets, spears”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The word first named a soldier's metal helmet.^[2][3] DA adds the heraldic helmet above a shield and, by comparison, the hard crest of some birds and the helmet-shaped spur of some orchids.^[2] CADE in 1931 lists the colonial sun helmet and the earphones for listening to the radio.^[11] The modern senses cover protective headgear of sportsmen and workers, a hairdresser's hood dryer, a swimming cap and headphones.^[6][3]

Căști albastre “blue helmets”, the UN peacekeepers, follows French casques bleus.^[12][13] In slang a cască is a gullible, naive person.^[14]

Timeline

• 1793 – the first record.^[7][5]
• 1832 – caschetă “peaked cap”, borrowed from French.^[5]
• 1848 – каскъ in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[10]
• before 1893 – the plural căşci in the Uricariul.^[3][2]
• 1899 – cascanet, a blend with baionetă or panganel.^[5]
• 1931 – the colonial helmet and the radio earphones, in CADE.^[11]
• 1993 – căști albastre “UN peacekeepers” in the press.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A helmet of metal, leather or rubber that protects the head, worn by soldiers, some sportsmen and some workers; a hard hat.^[6][3][1]
2. A hood-shaped hair dryer used in hairdressing salons.^[6][3]
3. A rubber or plastic cap that keeps the hair dry when swimming.^[6]
4. (often in the plural) headphones: one or two earpieces for listening to radio or telephone transmissions.^[6][3][1]
5. (slang, pejorative) A naive, gullible person.^[14]

Word family

• cascanet

Related words

• caschetă
• French casque

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. cască
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 305
4. ^ 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. cască
5. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. cască
6. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 150
7. ^ 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. cască
8. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1, 236
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. cască
11. ^ a b Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. cască
12. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. cască
13. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. cască
14. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. cască