Cassa

Cassa is an Italian noun with multiple, distinct meanings that depend on context. It can denote a container or box used for storage, such as a wooden cassa or a metal case. In everyday life, cassa also refers to the cash register or the money held by a merchant, and the place where transactions occur is called la cassa. Phrases like in cassa describe money that is on hand or readily available, and tenere qualcosa in cassa means to keep it in cash.

In finance and work contexts, cassa can refer to a fund or pool of money, sometimes in specialized terms such as cassa integrazione, a social safety net program in Italy that supports workers during certain disruptions. The word also appears in everyday shopping and banking language, for example when paying “alla cassa” at the checkout.

In music and acoustics, cassa denotes the bass drum in Italian, with grancassa referring to a larger bass drum. The term also appears in reference to the soundbox or enclosure of an instrument, as in cassa di risonanza, and in the diameter of loudspeaker cabinets called cassa acustica.

Other uses include its role as a surname and as a place name in Italian-speaking areas. Etymologically, cassa derives from the Latin capsa, meaning box or case, and has cognates in other Romance languages such as caja in Spanish or caisse in French.

Overall, cassa is a versatile term spanning everyday objects, money, music, and technical spaces, reflecting the broad semantic field of “box, case, or container” in Italian.