city in Morocco, Spanish, literally "white house;" the first element is from Latin casa "hut, cottage, cabin" (see casino), the second is from Germanic (see blank (adj.)).
Entries linking to casablanca
casino n.
1744, "public room for music or dancing," from Italian casino, literally "a little house," diminutive of casa "house," from Latin casa "hut, cottage, cabin," which is of uncertain origin. The card game (also cassino) is attested by that name from 1792. Specifically as "building for aristocratic gambling" by 1820, first in an Italian context.
[T]he term Casino [is] indiscriminately applied to a set of farm offices, a country-seat, a gambling house, and a game of cards ... [Jane Waldie Watts, "Sketches Descriptive of Italy in the Years 1816 and 1817," London 1820]
blank adj.
early 13c., "white, pale, colorless," from Old French blanc "white, shining," from Frankish *blank "white, gleaming," or some other Germanic source (compare Old Norse blakkr, Old English blanca "white horse;" Old High German blanc, blanch; German blank "shining, bright"). This is reconstructed to be from Proto-Germanic *blangkaz "to shine, dazzle," an extended form of PIE root *bhel- (1) "to shine, flash, burn," also "shining white."
The meaning "having empty spaces" is attested from c. 1400. The sense of "void of expression" (a blank look) is from 1550s. Spanish blanco, Italian bianco are said to be from Germanic. Related: Blankly, blankness.