KÄSE is commonly called caseus 'cheese' in Latin (cf. Georges, under caseus). Kluge sees a connection with Old Church Slavonic kvasŭ ‛sourdough' and therefore advocates an Indo-European origin. The Latin word entered Germanic very early (cf. goh. kāsi, recorded in the 8th century, and ang. cēse, with conspicuous palatalisation); according to Kluge, "[t]he Latin word [...] is borrowed in connection with the preparation of rennet cheese. Before that, the Germanic peoples knew only soft cheese (curd)" (478). In Romansh itself, the initially dominant type (cf. DéROM: under */`kasi-u/ and FEW 2, 456–458 under caseus) has been widely replaced, however, especially by the type formaticu(m), which is explicitly motivated by rennet cheese-making, or, more precisely, by the production of cheese with a COAGULANT. Only with this technique, forming the cheese, letting it mature and longer preservation become possible (cf. fra. fromage, ita. formaggio etc.). The type caseus has been preserved in ita. càcio (Treccani under càcio), which is common at the dialectal level especially in Tuscany and in the dialects of Central and Southern Italy (cf. DELI I, 182). However, it also occurs in the VerbaAlpina study area, in the form of Ladin ćiajó (cf. EWD II, 126) (cf. Map of the base type caseum). In the Western Alps, on the other hand, caseus failed to assert itself from the outset against the pre-Roman, presumably Gallic substrate word tomme / toma (f.) (roa.).