- basket
- early 13c., from Anglo-Fr. bascat, from L. bascauda "kettle, table-vessel," origin obscure despite much speculation. Said by the Roman poet Martial to be from Celtic British and perhaps cognate with L. fascis "bundle, faggot," in which case it probably originally meant "wicker basket." But there is no evidence of such a word in Celtic unless later words in Irish and Welsh, counted as borrowings from English, are original.