English
chance
Nearest English gloss
what falls, unplanned
What the gloss loses
English slides toward “opportunity” and “luck,” which smuggle a beneficiary into a fall. Chance here is not a gift with a sender.
Etymology
From Old French cheance, a falling of the dice, from Latin cadere, to fall. Related to cadence. The word still remembers accident.
History
A mold spore, a timing error, weather on a wheat field. Afterward, stories try to hire chance as destiny. We decline the hire.
What do we make of what nobody planned?