capaz

Forms

capaz m or f (masculine and feminine plural capaces)^[1] Old Spanish wrote it capaz or capaç (plural capazes, capaçes).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin capāx (“able to hold much; capable”).^[4][5][1][6] García de Diego calls it a cultism, beside the popular capacho and capazo “basket”, which Corominas derives from a Vulgar Latin *capaceum formed from the same Latin words.^[7][8] Compare Portuguese capaz, Galician capaz, Catalan capaç and French capace.^[1][9]

The Latin adjective is made of capiō (“to take, hold”) and the suffix -āx.^[1][10] De Vaan derives the verb from *kap-i-, which he traces either to *kh₂p-i- or to a non-Indo-European source, and compares Ancient Greek κάπτω (káptō, “to gulp down”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record in the CDH is in the Cortes de Segovia of 1386, in the legal sense: two children non eran capazes para heredar “were not entitled to inherit”.^[2] Corominas dates the word from the beginning of the 15th century.^[4] In 1414 an Aragonese ordinance asks for a libro grant capaz, a large and roomy book.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense “roomy, able to hold” and the figurative “apt, able” both appear in the 15th century: the chronicler Pulgar writes of an age not capaz para gobernar (c. 1484).^[12] Covarrubias (1611) defines the word as a thing with room to receive another and a man with the wit to understand or carry out something.^[13] The Diccionario de Autoridades gives the senses “able to contain”, “large, spacious” and “apt, suitable”, and the Academy's 1817 edition adds “talented, learned”.^[14][15]

In Latin America capaz came to mean “possible, likely”: García Icazbalceta collected Mexican examples of es capaz que in this sense in the 19th century, and in Chile Román condemned es capaz que as unintelligible in Castilian.^[16][17] The Academy's 2001 dictionary records capaz que “maybe” for Argentina and Uruguay; the current DLE gives an adjective “possible” and an adverb “perhaps” for the Americas, and DAMER lists the adverb in Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, Chile and Argentina.^[18][5][19]

Timeline

• 1386 – the Cortes de Segovia: capazes para heredar.^[2]
• early 15th century – the first record according to Corominas.^[4]
• 1438 – the derivative capacidad.^[4]
• 1515 – the first record from the Americas, in Tierra Firme.^[20]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Latin capax.^[13]
• 1899 – García Icazbalceta records Mexican es capaz que “it is possible that”.^[16]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Able, capable; having the talent or qualities for something: una enfermera muy capaz.^[5][1]
2. (with de) Able to do what is expressed; daring enough to do it: Es capaz de cruzar el río a nado.^[5][21]
3. Having room enough to hold something; large, spacious: un salón capaz para trescientas personas.^[5]
4. (law) Legally fit to exercise a right or fulfil an obligation.^[5]
5. (Latin America, colloquial) Possible or likely: Es capaz que mañana nieve.^[5][22]

Adverb

1. (Latin America, Canary Islands, colloquial) maybe, perhaps: Capaz que llegan tarde.^[5][19][1]

Word family

• incapaz

Related words

• capacidad
• capacitar
• recapacitar
• caber
• capacho
• capazo
• Latin capāx
• English capacious

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. capaz
3. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. capaz
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. capaz
6. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. capaz
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. capaz
8. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 828
9. ^ 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, 531
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ Alonso Pedraz, Martín (1986), Diccionario medieval español: desde las Glosas Emilianenses y Silenses (s. X) hasta el siglo XV, 2 vols., Salamanca: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, p. 614
13. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 423
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 139
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 172
16. ^ a b García Icazbalceta, Joaquín (1899), Vocabulario de mexicanismos comprobado con ejemplos y comparado con los de otros países hispano-americanos, México: La Europea, p. s.v. capaz
17. ^ Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 28
18. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. capaz
19. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. capaz
20. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. capaz
21. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. capaz
22. ^ Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. capaz