Words for thinking in Italian

In the middle of the list sits il caso, which an English reader translates as « case » and then meets again where no case is meant. In questo caso is in this case and un caso difficile is a hard one, but per caso is by chance, il caso vuole che is as chance would have it, and un caso fortuito is an accident. One Italian word covers what English divides between « case » and « chance », and the reason is that the division is English rather than Latin. Under all of it lies casus, a falling, from cadere, to fall: what falls out, what befalls somebody. « Case » came in from Old French carrying the noun; « chance » came in from the same Old French carrying cadentia, built on the same verb. The household is larger than it looks — « accident » is what falls towards you, « occasion » what falls in your way, « decay » what falls apart, « coincidence » two things falling together — and English has stopped hearing the verb in any of them.