The Case of the Two (or Three) Cases

It is easy to confuse the term ‘case’ with the term ‘case’. Admittedly, they appear to be somewhat similar; but in fact they are quite distinct.

“That is not the case” says the person offered the wrong baggage from a left luggage counter.

“That is not the case” says the lawyer for the defence. Or "The case was tried at the Old Bailey", the newspaper reports.

Case A is derived from the Old French casse, itself derived from Latin capsa meaning a container, and origin of our term capsule. Modern French says caisse, modern Italian says cassa. The Ancient Roman original was related to the Latin verb capio/capt- meaning to take (hence also our words capture and chase) or hold.

Case B comes from Latin casus (literally, a ‘falling’, from the Latin verb cado/cas- meaning to fall and to happen*.) The Latin noun occasio meant a happening: hence our word ‘occasion’. So our idiom “That is not the case” means “That is not how it actually happened*”. In the legal context, a ‘case’ implies a set of actual facts to be determined:  or the truth that has to be reached in order that a judgement may be made.

* Compare our English phrase ‘to befall’.

** “That is not the case” is really a rather pompous way of saying “Not so”.

The Case of the Two Cases