entry
cast
/kæst/Throw, shape, or assign by lots
From O.Norse / Scandinavian cast (to throw).
Word Ancestry
Picture a medieval English speaker standing on a windy deck, watching Norse seafarers fling something hard and fast: a spear, a net, maybe a glance. That blunt little Scandinavian verb, kasta, slid into English around 1200 and elbowed aside Old English weorpan for ordinary throwing. Then English did what it always does with a good verb: it started using it everywhere, so cast a net, cast a shadow, cast lots, cast a play, even cast a vote. The same old motion of sending something outward now lives in broadcasting seeds across a field and in broadcast radio, where sound is flung over the air instead of over a fence. And the word still feels physical, as if every later meaning is just that original heave wearing a different coat.
The Story
Picture a medieval English speaker standing on a windy deck, watching Norse seafarers fling something hard and fast: a spear, a net, maybe a glance. That blunt little Scandinavian verb, kasta, slid into English around 1200 and elbowed aside Old English weorpan for ordinary throwing. Then English did what it always does with a good verb: it started using it everywhere, so cast a net, cast a shadow, cast lots, cast a play, even cast a vote. The same old motion of sending something outward now lives in broadcasting seeds across a field and in broadcast radio, where sound is flung over the air instead of over a fence. And the word still feels physical, as if every later meaning is just that original heave wearing a different coat.
Kin & Kindred
From 'cast'·to throw, fling, hurl
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary