Etymograph

English

casket

Casket may come from Norman casse ‘case’, from Old Northern French casse ‘Old Norman form of chasse’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kap-1uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kapyéti1‘to be grasping’uncertain
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kapjō2‘to take, to seize’uncertain
  4. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kapsos2uncertain
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcapsa3‘a box, case, holder, repository’uncertain
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400chasse3‘chest’uncertain
  7. Old Northern Frenchc. 842–1400casse3‘Old Norman form of chasse’uncertainvariant of chasse
  8. Normanc. 1066–presentcasse4‘case’uncertain
  9. Normanc. 1066–presentcassette5uncertain
  10. Englishearliest quotation c. 1604–1605casket5

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Italic *kapjō
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin capsa
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Norman câsse
  4. 4 Wiktionary, Norman cassette
  5. 5 Wiktionary, English casket
  6. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1604–1605, William Shakespeare, All’s Well, that Ends Well: “I have […] casketed my treasure.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kap-Wiktionary, Proto-Italic *kapjōuncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kapyétiWiktionary, Proto-Italic *kapjō‘to be grasping’uncertain
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kapjōWiktionary, Latin capsa‘to take, to seize’uncertain
  4. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kapsosWiktionary, Latin capsauncertain
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcapsaWiktionary, Norman câsse‘a box, case, holder, repository’uncertain
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400chasseWiktionary, Norman câsse‘chest’uncertain
  7. Old Northern Frenchc. 842–1400casseWiktionary, Norman câsse‘Old Norman form of chasse’uncertainvariant of chasse
  8. Normanc. 1066–presentcasseWiktionary, Norman cassette‘case’uncertain
  9. Normanc. 1066–presentcassetteWiktionary, English casketuncertain
  10. Englishearliest quotation c. 1604–1605casketWiktionary, English casket. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1604–1605, William Shakespeare, All’s Well, that Ends Well: “I have […] casketed my treasure.”

The story

Possibly reformed by analogy with cask, thus analyzable as cask + -et.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kap-

had, head, except, heavy, capital, behavior, captain, chapter, catch, achieve, heavily, capacity, escape, chef, occupation, acceptance, haven, chapel, behave, cape, cattle, cabin, hawk, capitol, precipitation, capita, captive, chaplain, conceive, captivity, mischief, conceivable, mischievous, cad, haves, chieftain, precipitate, capillary, occipital, acceptability, 138 more

through Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti ‘to be grasping’

acceptable, heave, heaving, heft, imperceptible, 27 more

through Proto-Italic *kapjō ‘to take, to seize’

accept, receive, capable, cable, recipe, reception, capture, perception, recipient, anticipation, anticipate, susceptible, deception, caption, deceive, deceptive, cater, deceit, preoccupation, receivable, perceptible, preceptor, sashay, 28 more

through Proto-Italic *kapsos

cashier, 3 more

through Latin capsa ‘a box, case, holder, repository’

cash, capsule, cajon, 4 more

through Old French chasse ‘chest’

chase, chassis, chasse

through Old Northern French casse ‘Old Norman form of chasse’

case, cassette, kas

Today it means

noun A little box, e.g. for jewellery.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “casket”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Italic *kapjō, Latin capsa, Norman câsse, Norman cassette. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kap- / casket

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