Editing Grammatical case (section)

== Etymology ==
The English word ''case'' used in this sense comes from the Latin {{lang|la|casus}}, which is derived from the verb {{wikt-lang|la|cado|cadere}}, "to fall", from the [[Proto-Indo-European root]] ''[[en:wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/ḱh₂d-|ḱh₂d-]]''.<ref>{{OEtymD|case}}</ref> The Latin word is a [[calque]] of the Greek {{lang|grc|πτῶσις}}, {{grc-tr|πτῶσις}}, lit. "falling, fall".<ref>"L. {{wikt-lang|la|cāsus}} used to translate Gr. {{lang|grc|πτῶσις}} lit. 'falling, fall'. By [[Aristotle]] {{lang|grc|πτῶσις}} was applied to any derived, inflected, or extended form of the simple {{wikt-lang|grc|ὄνομα}} or {{wikt-lang|grc|ῥῆμα}} (i.e. the nominative of nouns, the present indicative of verbs), such as the oblique cases of nouns, the variations of adjectives due to gender and comparison, also the derived adverb (e.g. {{lang|grc|δικαίως}} was a {{lang|grc|πτῶσις}} of {{wikt-lang|grc|δίκαιος}}), the other tenses and moods of the verb, including its interrogative form. The grammarians, following the [[Stoics]], restricted {{lang|grc|πτῶσις}} to nouns, and included the nominative under the designation". {{OED|case}}</ref> The sense is that all other cases are considered to have "fallen" away from the nominative. This imagery is also reflected in the word ''[[declension]]'', from Latin {{wikt-lang|la|declino|declinere}}, "to lean", from the PIE root ''[[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/ḱley-|*ḱley-]]''.

The equivalent to "case" in several other European languages also derives from ''casus'', including {{wikt-lang|fr|cas}} in French, {{wikt-lang|it|caso}} in Italian and {{wikt-lang|de|Kasus}} in German. The Russian word {{lang|ru|паде́ж}} (''padyézh'') is a calque from Greek and similarly contains a root meaning "fall", and the German {{wikt-lang|de|Fall}} and Czech {{wikt-lang|cs|pád}} simply mean "fall", and are used for both the concept of grammatical case and to refer to physical falls. The Dutch equivalent {{wikt-lang|nl|naamval}} translates as 'noun case', in which 'noun' has the older meaning of both 'adjective (noun)' and '(substantive) noun'. The Finnish equivalent is {{wikt-lang|fi|sija}}, whose main meaning is "position" or "place". 

Similar to Latin, [[Sanskrit nominals|Sanskrit]] uses the term विभक्ति ''(vibhakti)''<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Kishor |first=Vraja |date=December 19, 2016 |title=Whaddaya Tawki'na'bowt? Intro to Sanskrit Noun Use |url=https://easysanskrit.wordpress.com/2016/12/19/whaddaya-tawkinabowt-intro-to-sanskrit-noun-use/ |website=Easy Sanskrit |access-date=November 15, 2024 |archive-date=October 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191007140339/https://easysanskrit.wordpress.com/2016/12/19/whaddaya-tawkinabowt-intro-to-sanskrit-noun-use/ |url-status=live }}</ref> which may be interpreted as the specific or distinct "bendings" or "experiences" of a word, from the verb भुज् ''(bhuj)''<ref>{{Cite web |title=भुज् |url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E0%A4%AD%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%9C%E0%A5%8D#Sanskrit |website=Wiktionary |access-date=2024-11-15 |archive-date=2024-09-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240911030745/https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E0%A4%AD%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%9C%E0%A5%8D#Sanskrit |url-status=live }}</ref> and the prefix वि ''(vi)'',<ref>{{Cite web |title=वि- |url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BF- |website=Wiktionary}}</ref> and names the individual cases using ordinal numbers.