Re: caste

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "danjmi <dmilt1896@...>"
<dmilt1896@...> wrote:> > What is the etymology of the word? Is it
a Portuguese word, an > > equivalent of Skt. varn.a?

>
> Yes, Portuguese. 'Casta', race, breed, family, < Latin 'castus'
> pure. Hobson-Jobson (a wonderful book, that I imagine gives fits

to > contemporary Indian nationalists, as well as to scientific

> etymologists, but a wonderful book nevertheless) gives examples of
> its use in a general sense for over a century before the first

usage > found in the more specific sense in the 1560's.

Thanks, Dan.

kes- To cut. Oldest form *kes-, becoming *kes- in centum languages,
variant kas-.Suffixed form *kas-to-. caste, chaste; castigate,
incest, from Latin castus, chaste, pure. Latin castrum, fortified
place, camp (perhaps "separated place").[Bartleby]

Is kes- related to r.ks.a 'cut, pierced'?