English
cast
Cast comes from Old Norse kasta ‘to throw, cast, overturn’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *kas-.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kas-‘to throw’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kastōną‘to throw’reconstructed
- Old Norsec. 800–1350kasta‘to throw’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500casten
- Englishearliest quotation 1485cast
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kas-‘to throw’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kastōną‘to throw’reconstructed
- Old Norsec. 800–1350kasta‘to throw’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500casten
- Englishearliest quotation 1485cast
Earliest quotation: 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XIX: “[...] for the quene had cast to haue ben…”
The story
In the sense of "flinging", displaced native warp. The senses relating to broadcasting are based on that same term; compare -cast.
Linked words
through Proto-Germanic *kas- ‘to throw’
Today it means
verb To move, or be moved, away.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *kas- / cast