cap

Forms

cap m (plural caps)^[1] The Homilies d'Organyà write it cab, with the voiced final consonant expected at that period.^[2] For the preposition Mallorcan says de cap a, and in some Valencian districts cap a has been turned into paca (paca ací “over here”).^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin capus (“head, chief”), a remodelling of classical caput (“head”).^[4][5][1] Being neuter, the Latin word had an accusative identical to the nominative, but its Romance forms look as if it had soon been replaced by ⟨capu⟩, as if from an accusative *capum.^[2][6][5]

The same Latin word is Occitan cap, Spanish cabo, Portuguese cabo, French chef, Italian capo and Romanian cap.^[7] The REW notes that the old concrete sense “head” survives in Romanian, southern Italy, Romansh, southern France and Catalan, while elsewhere it gave way to “chief” and “end”.^[7]

The Latin word continues Proto-Italic *kaput; its cognates are Germanic, such as Old High German houbit (“head”).^[8] Wiktionary takes it back to Proto-Indo-European *káput.^[1]

The preposition and the negative pronoun are both uses of the noun, as the DCVB, Bruguera and the GDLC agree.^[3][9][6][5] The DCVB sees in ⟨cap a⟩ an old absolute construction, Latin ⟨capite ad⟩ “with the head towards”, like Spanish hacia from ⟨facie ad⟩.^[3][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coromines's first record is the Homilies d'Organyà, about 1200, where the Devil tempts “Our Lord, who is cab of all men”, the head in the figurative sense.^[2] The bodily head is common from the 13th century: Jaume I has a knight with son capell de ferre en lo cap “his iron helmet on his head”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The medieval texts use cap for the head and for whatever is at the top, the beginning or the end of something: an end of a battle line or of a table, a scrap of candle, the metal tip of a strap, a piece of head armour, and a headland, as in Muntaner's cap de Creus (1325).^[11][4] From the head as the seat of thought and the person at the head of a group came the senses “judgement” and “chief, leader”.^[5][4]

The preposition comes from the idea of going with the head turned towards a place.^[2][6] Coromines finds it hardly ever before the end of the 15th century, where older texts have vers or devers.^[2] Bruguera dates it to the 15th century.^[2][6]

The determiner and pronoun “any; none” grew out of “end, bit, scrap”, made grammatical like the negative particles pas, mica, gota and gens.^[6] Bruguera dates this to the 16th century, and Old Catalan said negun instead.^[6][5] Coromines finds it in literature hardly before two popular poems of the 15th century, among them the Cobles de la Tristor of 1460, and ties it closely to the Pallars and Cerdanya adverb cap that only strengthens a negation, like pas.^[2][9] In his account both the preposition and the pronoun belonged to popular speech, entered the common language in the period of decline and became standard only with the Renaixença.^[2]

Labèrnia's dictionary of 1839 already lists the meaning “nobody” beside the noun.^[12] Fabra (1932) and the DIEC2 give the determiner as an invariable adjective meaning “any”, used for something imagined in order to be denied, excluded, asked about or supposed.^[13][14]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – cab “head (of all men)” in the Homilies d'Organyà.^[2]
• 13th century – the bodily head in Jaume I's chronicle.^[2]
• 1325 – Muntaner writes of the cap de Creus, a headland.^[11]
• 1460 – the negative pronoun in the Cobles de la Tristor.^[2]
• Late 15th century – the preposition cap a appears in the Procés de les Olives.^[2]
• 1839 – Labèrnia's dictionary records cap as “nobody”.^[12]
• 1932 – Fabra's dictionary heads the noun and the adjective separately.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) head, the top part of the human body, and the front part of many animals.^[14][5]
2. The head as the seat of intelligence and judgement: Aquest noi té molt de cap.^[5][4]
3. chief, leader, the person at the head of a group.^[5][1]
4. end, extremity; the top or the beginning of something.^[4][1]
5. (geography) cape, headland.^[4][11][1]
6. Each of the strands twisted together to make a cord or rope.^[4]
7. (heraldry) The chief, the upper part of a shield.^[1]

Determiner

1. (in a question or a supposition) any: Saps cap cançó d’aquest poble?^[14][1]
2. (with a negative) no, not any: No hi ha cap tren fins demà.^[14][1]

Pronoun

1. none, not one; asking or supposing, any one: No n’he vist cap.^[14][5][1]
2. (dialectal, Pallars and Cerdanya) Used like pas to strengthen a negation.^[2][9]

Preposition

1. towards, in the direction of: Caminàvem cap al riu.^[5][3][1]
2. Near, in the area of.^[5]
3. (of time) About, around: Tornaran cap a les sis.^[5][3]

Word family

• acabar
• acabament
• acabança
• acaballes
• inacabable
• acabat

Related words

• cabdal
• cabdell
• cabeça
• Latin caput
• Occitan cap
• Spanish cabo

Usage notes

Valencian also uses the negative pronoun, but usually followed by de: a Valencian version of Fages de Romà's rural sayings has cap de diner “no money”.^[15] Wiktionary compares the double meaning of French personne, “person” and “nobody”.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 2, 501
3. ^ a b c d e Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. cap 2
4. ^ a b c d e f g Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. cap
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. cap
6. ^ a b c d e f Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 172
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1667
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. cap 3
10. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 301
11. ^ a b c Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. cap
12. ^ a b Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. cap
13. ^ a b Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. cap
14. ^ a b c d e Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. cap
15. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 10, 8