Etymograph

English

downcast

Downcast comes from Old Norse kasta ‘to cast, throw’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *kas-.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kas-‘to throw, toss, raise, bring up’reconstructedearlier origin unknown
  2. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kastōną‘to throw’reconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350kasta‘to cast, throw’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500doun-casten
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1582downcast

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kas-‘to throw, toss, raise, bring up’reconstructedearlier origin unknown
  2. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kastōną‘to throw’reconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350kasta‘to cast, throw’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500doun-casten
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1582downcast

Earliest quotation: 1582, Virgil, The Third Booke of Virgil His Aeneis: “Briefly then heere Dido, with downe caſt phiſnomie, parled.”

Formed from down- + cast ‘that has been thrown’

Old English dūne ‘down, downward’

English down-

Proto-Germanic *kas- ‘to throw’

Proto-Germanic *kastōną ‘to throw’

Old Norse kasta ‘to throw’

Middle English casten

English cast

The story

The adjective is derived from Middle English doun-casten, *adoun-casten (‘(adjective) cast down, dejected; (verb) to break down (something); to overcome (someone); to overturn (something)’), from down (‘in a downward direction; (figurative) to destruction’), adoun (‘downward’) + casten (‘to throw (something), fling, hurl; to overcome (someone), defeat, overpower; [etc.]’) (from Old Norse kasta (‘to cast, throw’), from Proto-Germanic *kastōną (‘to throw’), from *kas- (‘to throw, toss; to bring up’); further etymology uncertain), modelled similarly to other constructions in Middle English such as adoun-throwen (‘to throw down’) and adoun-werpen (‘to throw down’)).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain. The English word is analysable as down- (prefix meaning ‘lower direction or position’) + cast (“that has been thrown”, adjective).

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *kas- ‘to throw, toss, raise, bring up’

kier, 4 more

through Old Norse kasta ‘to cast, throw’

caster, 3 more

Another origin of downcast

  1. Old Norsec. 800–1350kast‘a throw’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500downcast‘misfortune’
  3. Englishtodaydowncast

The English word is analysable as down- (prefix meaning ‘lower direction or position’) + cast (“act of throwing”, noun).

Another origin of downcast

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500doun-casten
  2. Englishtodaydowncast

The English word is analysable as down- (prefix meaning ‘lower direction or position’) + cast (“to throw”, verb).

Today it means

adj Of the eyes, a facial expression, etc.: looking downwards, usually as a sign of discouragement, sadness, etc., or sometimes modesty.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *kas- / downcast

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