--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "S.Kalyanaraman <kalyan97@...>"
<kalyan97@...> 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.
Dan Milton