Etymology, Origin And Meaning Of Cheese By Etymonline

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Origin and history of cheese

cheese(n.1)

"curd of milk coagulated, separated from the whey, pressed, and used as food," Old English cyse (West Saxon), cese (Anglian) "cheese," from West Germanic *kasjus (source also of Old Saxon kasi, Old High German chasi, German Käse, Middle Dutch case, Dutch kaas), from Latin caseus "cheese" (source of Italian cacio, Spanish queso, Irish caise, Welsh caws).

This is of unknown origin; perhaps (Watkins) from a PIE root *kwat- "to ferment, become sour" (source also of Prakrit chasi "buttermilk;" Old Church Slavonic kvasu "leaven; fermented drink," kyselu "sour," -kyseti "to turn sour;" Czech kysati "to turn sour, rot;" Sanskrit kvathati "boils, seethes;" Gothic hwaþjan "foam").

But de Vaan writes, "no etymology can be found which does not require some poorly-founded assumptions," and suggests a loan-word. Also compare fromage. Old Norse ostr, Danish ost, Swedish ost are related to Latin ius "broth, sauce, juice."

The earliest references would be to compressed curds of milk used as food; pressed or molded cheeses with rinds are from 14c. Transferred to other cheese-like substances by 1530s. As a photographer's word to make subjects hold a smile, it is attested from 1930, but in a reminiscence of schoolboy days, which suggests an earlier use. Probably for the forced smile involved in making the -ee- sound.

Green cheese is that newly made; the notion that the moon is made of green cheese as a type of a ridiculous assertion is from 1520s. To make cheeses (1835) was a schoolgirls' amusement of wheeling rapidly so one's petticoats blew out in a circle then dropping down so they came to rest inflated and resembling a wheel of cheese; hence, used figuratively for "a deep curtsy." Bartlett ("Dictionary of Americanisms," 1848) defines head cheese as "The ears and feet of swine cut up fine, and, after being boiled, pressed into the form of a cheese."

cheese(n.2)

"the proper thing" (slang), from Urdu chiz "a thing," from Persian chiz, from Old Persian *ciš-ciy "something," from PIE pronominal root *kwo-. Picked up by British in India by 1818 and used in the sense of "a big thing" (especially in the phrase the real chiz).

This perhaps is behind the expression big cheese "important person" (1914), but that is American English in origin and likely rather belongs to cheese (n.1). To cut a big cheese as a figurative expression for "look important" is recorded from 1915, and overlarge wheels of cheese, especially from Wisconsin, were commonly displayed 19c. as publicity stunts by retailers, etc.

The cheese will be on exhibition at the National Dairy Show at Chicago next week. President Taft will visit the show the morning of Monday, October thirtieth, and after his address he will be invited to cut the big cheese, which will then be distributed in small lots to visitors at the show. [The Country Gentleman, Oct. 28, 1911]

cheese(v.)

"stop (what one is doing), run off," 1812, thieves' slang, of uncertain origin. The meaning "to smile" is from 1930 (see cheese (n.1)). For the sense of "annoy," see cheesed.

CHEESE IT. Be silent, be quiet, don't do it. Cheese it, the coves are fly; be silent, the people understand our discourse. ["Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence," London, 1811]

also from 1812

Entries linking to cheese

cheesed(adj.)

"disgruntled, exasperated," 1941, British slang, origin obscure, connections uncertain. See cheese (n.1), cheese (n.2), cheesy.

fromage(n.)

French for "cheese," from French fromage, originally formage (13c.), from Medieval Latin formaticum (source also of Italian formaggio), properly "anything made in a form," from Latin forma "shape, form, mold" (see form (v.)). Papias the Lombard (11c.) has caseus vulgo formaticum.

• C
• casein
• caseous
• cheeseburger
• cheesecake
• cheese-cloth
• cheesy
• green
• kvass
• quesadilla
• smear-case
• *kwo-
• See All Related Words (14)

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Trends of cheese

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

cheesecakealso cheese-cake, mid-15c., from cheese (n.1) + cake (n.). Originally a cake or tart containing cheese, later one made with sweetened soft curds, etc. It was used figuratively for "soft, effeminate" from 18c. The modern slang meaning dates from 1933; a "Time" magazine article frocheesy"cheese-like," late 14c., from cheese (n.1) + -y (2). The meaning "cheap, inferior" is attested from 1896, in U.S. student slang, along with cheese (n.) "an ignorant, stupid person." In late 19c. British slang, cheesy was "fine, showy" (1858), probably from cheese (n.2) and some greenOld English grene, Northumbrian groene "green, of the color of living plants," in reference to plants, "growing, living, vigorous," also figurative, of a plant, "freshly cut," of wood, "unseasoned" earlier groeni, from Proto-Germanic *grōni- (source also of Old Saxon grani, Old FStilton1736 in reference to a cheese made famous by a coaching inn at Stilton on the Great North Road from London, the owner being...from Leicestershire, where the cheese was made....Since 1969 restricted to cheese made in Leicester, Derby, and Nottingham counties by members of the Stilton Cheese Makers...Limburgerfamously pungent type of cheese, 1870, short for Limburger cheese (1817), from Limburg, province in northeast Belgium, where...the cheese is made....Some frauds a few years ago started a Limburger cheese factory down in Keyport, New Jersey, but the imposition was soon exposed...gorgonzolatype of blue cheese, 1878, short for Gorgonzola cheese (1866), named for Gorgonzola, village near Milan where it was made...the Torriani over the Visconti, in 1278, and which the latter revenged in 1281; but above all, famous for its strachino a cheese...dairyc. 1300, daerie, "building for making butter and cheese; dairy farm," formed with Anglo-French -erie (from Latin -arius;...Meaning "branch of farming concerned with the production of milk, butter, and cheese" is from 1670s....post"a timber of considerable size set upright," from Old English post "pillar, doorpost," and from Old French post "post, upright beam," both from Latin postis "door, post, doorpost," in Medieval Latin "a beam, rod, pole," which is perhaps from Vulgar Latin *por- "forth," a variant spotc. 1200, "moral stain;" by mid-14c. as "speck, stain left by something on a surface;" probably at least in part from a variant of Old English splott "a spot, blot, patch (of land)," and partly from or related to Middle Dutch spotte "spot, speck." Other cognates are East Frisian sstopMiddle English stoppen, "obstruct (a passage) with a physical barrier; close up by filling, stuffing, or plugging," from Old English -stoppian (in forstoppian "to stop up, stifle"), a general West Germanic word, cognate with Old Saxon stuppon, West Frisian stopje, Middle Low Germ

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TrendingDictionary entries near cheese

• cheerio
• cheerleader
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• cheese
• cheeseburger
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• cheese-cloth
• cheesed
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