The Etymology of Casserole
Casserole entered English in 1706 from French casserole, recorded since 1583 as a diminutive of casse, a pan or vessel. The earlier French casse goes back to Old Provençal cassa, from Late Latin cattia, a ladle or pan, which was itself a Greek loan from kyathos (κύαθος), a cup or ladle used at symposia for drawing wine from the krater. The kitchen vessel travelled westward through the Mediterranean, gradually deepening and broadening into the lidded earthenware or metal cooking dish that French and Spanish cooks still use. English first borrowed casserole as the name of the dish itself, but by the late nineteenth century the word had also come to mean any baked dish of mixed ingredients cooked in such a vessel — meat, vegetables, beans, sauce, breadcrumbs. Spanish cazuela and Italian casseruola are direct siblings; the chain of words runs cleanly from a Greek wine-ladle to a midwestern American family supper without breaking.