capitulation

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French capitulation (“division into chapters; treaty, convention”), also spelled capitulacion,^[2][3][4][5] from Late Latin capitulātiō (“listing of the main headings; later a collection of ordinances, an agreement”),^[2] from capitulō (“to arrange in chapters; to stipulate in an agreement”),^[2][3] from Latin capitulum (“head of a discourse, chapter”),^[2][3] literally a little head, a diminutive of caput (“head”),^[3][6] from Proto-Indo-European *kaput- (“head”).^[3] The Shorter Oxford and Hoad derive the English word from Late Latin,^[7][8] and the Shorter Oxford takes only the sense of surrender through French.^[7] It is related to capitulate, which is in part a back-formation from it according to Etymonline, and possibly so according to Barnhart,^[3][5] and to chapter.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The listing of the main headings of a subject; a summing up: in a letter of King Henry VIII of 1523.^[2] Etymonline's and Barnhart's first date is later and for a different sense, an agreement on specified terms, in the 1530s or 1535.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Latin capitulum meant a heading or chapter, so the verb came to mean drawing up something under heads, and hence arranging conditions.^[3][5] In English the sense of a stipulation, or in the plural the articles of an agreement, is recorded from 1529, and that of an agreement itself from 1535.^[2] Johnson (1755) still defines it as stipulation, terms or conditions.^[9] Since terms of surrender were one common kind of such articles, the word narrowed to the action of surrendering on stated terms: the OED's first record is of 1604, while Etymonline gives the 1640s and the Shorter Oxford the mid 17th century.^[2][3][7] The French word had the sense of a document with terms of surrender by 1603.^[2] The verb capitulate came to mean surrender only in the later 17th century, from the 1680s in Etymonline and 1689 in Barnhart.^[3][5] From surrender the noun passed to any giving way, figuratively, from 1814 in Walter Scott.^[2]

Timeline

• 1523 – the listing of the main headings of a subject (obsolete in this sense by 1882 in the OED).^[2]
• 1529 – a stipulation or condition; in the plural, the articles of a treaty.^[2]
• 1535 – an agreement on specified terms, a covenant (obsolete by 1843).^[2][5][4]
• 1569 – the making of terms; negotiation (obsolete by 1806).^[2]
• 1579 – articles giving special immunities within a state to subjects of another state.^[2]
• 1604 – the action of surrendering to an enemy, especially on stipulated terms.^[2]
• 1607 – a document containing terms of surrender.^[2]
• 1624 – the conditions sworn to by the Holy Roman Emperors at their election.^[2]
• 1814 – figuratively, yielding or giving way.^[2]
• 1981 – on the stock market, the point at which most investors expect no further profit and sell at any price.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of surrendering to an enemy, especially on agreed terms: The capitulation of the garrison ended the long siege.^[10][4][2]
2. The act of giving way to an opponent or a demand: the minister's capitulation to the lobbyists.^[6][2]
3. A document containing the terms of a surrender.^[10][11][2]
4. (historical) An agreement or set of conditions; especially, in the plural, treaty articles granting special privileges and extraterritoriality to the subjects of another state.^[6][4][2]
5. (historical) The conditions sworn to by a Holy Roman Emperor at his election.^[2]
6. (stock market) The state reached when most investors expect no further profit and sell their holdings at any price.^[2]
7. A statement of the main divisions of a subject; a summary or enumeration.^[10][11][4] The OED marks this use obsolete.^[2]
8. (obsolete, 1535–1843) An agreement on specified terms; a covenant.^[2][7]

Word family

• capitulatory
• noncapitulation

Related words

• chapiter
• chapter
• capital
• capitalism
• captain
• capitulate
• recapitulate
• capitulum

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins