English
chaste
Chaste comes from Old French chaste ‘morally pure’, and goes back to Proto-Italic *kastos.
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kastosreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcastus‘pure’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400chaste‘morally pure’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kastosreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcastus‘pure’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400chaste‘morally pure’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602same form
Earliest quotation: c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet: “Then way what loſſe your honor may ſuſtaine If…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ḱes- ‘to cut’
castle, caries, château, cassation, cashel, castello, castrate, castell, 23 more
through Latin castus ‘pure’
Today it means
adj Sexually pure, abstaining from immoral or unlawful sexual intercourse.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Italic *kastos / chaste