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capital

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English has two words spelled capital, both from Latin caput “head”: the adjective and noun meaning “chief; wealth; chief city”, from capitālis, and the top of a column, from capitellum.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈkæp.ɪ.təl/, US /ˈkæp.ə.t̬əl/[4]

capital1 chief; wealth; chief city

Etymology

The adjective is inherited from Middle English capital,[2][1] borrowed from Old French capital,[5][1] from Latin capitālis (“of the head; chief, first”),[5][2] from caput (“head”) (genitive capitis),[5][1] from Proto-Indo-European *kaput- (“head”).[5][2] The financial noun is from Medieval Latin capitāle (“stock, property, assets”), the noun use of the neuter of capitālis;[5][1] Latin caput itself could mean “principal, money laid out”.[1][2] In Medieval Latin the adjective described the pars capitalis, the principal sum of a loan, as opposed to the interest.[5] It is a doublet of cattle and chattel.[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

“Of or relating to the head”: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle,[1] or the early 13th century.[5]

Semantic evolution

Several senses grew from “of the head”.[1] “Involving loss of the head or life, deadly” is from 1395, in Wycliffe,[1] and a capital crime, punishable by death, from the 1520s;[5] Old English had a similar link between head and life in heafodgilt “capital offence”.[5] Capital letters, so called because they stand at the head of a sentence, are from before 1387,[1][5] and the noun, a capital letter, from before 1430.[1] “Chief, principal” is from the early 15th century.[5][1] The financial noun meant a person's wealth in the 1610s (1611, in Cotgrave's Dictionary),[5][1] the wealth used in a business from the 1640s, and in political economy the part of production available for further production from 1793.[5] The chief city of a country is from the 1660s, 1667 in Milton's Paradise Lost.[5][1] “Excellent, first-rate” is by 1754, perhaps from capital ships, those strong enough to stand in the line of battle, from the 1650s.[5][6] Capitalist is from 1791 and capitalism from 1854, in Thackeray.[1]

Timeline

  • before 1200 – of the head.[1]
  • before 1387 – capital letters.[1]
  • 1395 – deadly, mortal.[1]
  • early 15th century – chief, principal.[5]
  • 1520s – a capital crime.[5]
  • 1611 – a fund of money.[1]
  • 1667 – the chief city.[1]
  • 1754 – excellent.[5]
  • 1791 – capitalist.[1]
  • 1854 – capitalism.[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The city that is the seat of government of a country or state.
  2. A city that is the centre of an activity: the fashion capital.
  3. Wealth in money or property used to produce more wealth, or invested in a business.
  4. An upper-case letter.

Adjective

  1. Chief; most important.
  2. Punishable by death: a capital crime.
  3. Of a letter, upper-case.
  4. (dated, British) Excellent.
  5. Relating to financial assets.

Word family

  • capitalism
  • capitalist
  • capitalize
  • capitally
  • capital punishment

capital2 top of a column

Etymology

The top of a column is inherited from Middle English capitale,[7] borrowed from Anglo-Norman capitel, Old French chapitel (modern French chapiteau),[1][3][2] from Late Latin capitellum (“small head, top of a column”),[1][8] a diminutive of Latin caput (“head”).[1][3] Its form was changed by folk etymology under the influence of the other capital.[7] It is a doublet of cadet.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The head or top of a column or pillar: before 1300,[1] or about 1290.[9]

Semantic evolution

The head or cap of a chimney or crucible is from 1715.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 1290 – the top of a column.[9]
  • 1715 – the cap of a chimney.[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (architecture) The top part of a column or pillar.

Usage notes

A city that is the seat of government is spelled capital, while the building in which a legislature meets is a capitol.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  2. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin