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CASKET

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 449 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CASKET , a small See also:

box or See also:coffer, commonly used for jewels, See also:money, papers, or other See also:objects of value. The See also:etymology is doubtful. It is possibly a diminutive of " cask," a See also:barrel for See also:wine or other liquor. The See also:Spanish casco meant also a See also:skull, See also:helmet, or rind of an See also:onion, and is probably connected with cascar, tobreak open,Latin quassare,See also:French casser, to break, shake. The French casque, casquet, of the same origin is only used of a helmet, and the sense of " small See also:chest " is not found in See also:languages other than See also:English. See also:Skeat suggests that the word is a corruption of French cassette, diminutive of casse, box, Latin capsa, from capere, to hold, contain, cf. English " See also:case ." See also:History and literature are full of references to the often disconcerting contents of these famous receptacles. The " Casket Letters " (q.v.) are one of the mysteries of history. Ha:'pagnon's casket plays an important See also:part in See also:Moliere's L'Avare; See also:Bluebeard gives his too-curious wife the keys of his caskets filled with See also:precious stones; the contents of Sainte-Croix's casket brought about the trial and condemnation of the marquise de Brinvilliers, the poisoner. This very See also:ancient piece of See also:furniture was no doubt derived from the chest, which was the See also:original See also:wardrobe. It was often an See also:object of See also:great value, covered with See also:ivory, See also:enamel, or stamped See also:leather, enriched with precious metals, or encrusted with jewels. One which belonged to St See also:Louis and is preserved in the Louvre is covered with enamelled See also:shields of arms and other decorations.

In the 16th and 17th centuries See also:

secret hiding-places were some-times in the thickness of the lid or in a false bottom.

End of Article: CASKET

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