Castaway is a compound of cast (from Old Norse kasta, 'to throw') and away (Old English aweg). Literally 'one cast away,' applied to a shipwreck survivor. The historical trail runs through kasta in Old Norse and aweg in Old English. Morphologically, castaway is transparent: it is a compound of cast (from Old Norse kasta, 'to throw') and away (Old English aweg). Used as a noun and adjective, castaway now means "a person stranded after a shipwreck or in an isolated place", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in related forms such as cast and outcast. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English.