This is a short one, but I thought it was interesting.
The Hebrew word for helmet, kasda קַסְדָּה (or in the Mishna, קַסְדָּא) comes from Latin. Here is Klein's etymology:
From L. cassis, gen. cassidis, which prob. stands for * kadh-tis, from IE * kadh– (= to guard, watch), whence also Old Eng. hōd, hood, haett (= hat).
While words like hood and hat may indeed be distantly cognate with kasda, I liked these closer cousins.
The Latin cassida shows up in the name of a genus of tortoise beetles, whose shells do recall a helmet:
From Wikipedia / © Darius Baužys |
It also appears in the name of of a family of large sea snails, the Cassidae, who are also known as "helmet snails":
https://www.flickr.com/photos/budak/51362681871 |
How responsible of them to be wearing a kasda!
No comments:
Post a Comment