cast

At its core, cast means to send something away by throwing it. English took the word from Middle English casten, borrowed from Old Norse kasta, “to throw, cast, overturn”; the Old Norse verb came from Proto-Germanic kastōną, whose origin is unknown. In the sense of flinging, cast displaced the native English word warp.

The throwing image broadened into many uses: by the 13th century, cast could mean to throw, and it could also describe directing a gaze. From there, English uses it for throwing light or shadow, shedding a skin, casting a fishing line, and forming an object by pouring material into a mould. The verb also came to mean adding figures, assigning performers to roles, and changing a value’s type in computing. The senses associated with broadcasting are based on the same word.