Etymologically
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capello

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Pronunciation

  • /kaˈpel.lo/[1]

Forms

capello m (plural capelli)[1] Old forms include Old Italian cavello, Old Italian capei and the old plural Old Italian capegli.[2][3] The plural capegli and the poetic capei are still listed as literary, and cavello as archaic and northern.[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin capillus (“hair of the head”).[3][5][6][1][7] The word continues in all the Romance languages except Romanian and Sardinian, which say Romanian păr and Sardinian pilu: Dalmatian capei, French cheveu, Catalan cabell, Spanish cabello and Portuguese cabelo.[8][5][9]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.[3][10] The ancients linked it with Latin caput (“head”), and Isidore of Seville explained the word as capitis pīlī (“hairs of the head”).[11] De Vaan finds this hard in form, since a derivative of the word for “head” would have given a different vowel, and in meaning, since the word looks like a diminutive and “little head” is not “hair”.[10] Nocentini prefers a derivation from Latin capulō (“to cut, shear”), which also had a variant capellāre.[5] DEI calls a connection with Latin pilus (“hair”) equally doubtful.[7]

The old plural capegli lies behind capigliatura, which also continues Latin capillātūra, and behind accapigliarsi and scapigliato.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Glossario di Monza, a 10th-century glossary from Lombardy.[2] The form cavello is in Cielo d'Alcamo before 1250, and capello at the end of the 13th century in the Novellino, in the sense “a hair of the human head”.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the plural also meant the whole head of hair, and the word was used for the fatal lock of Nisus or Dido in mythology, for the mane of a horse, and figuratively for the vegetation that covers the earth.[2] Guido Cavalcanti wrote of a girl with “cavelli … biondetti e ricciutelli” (fair, curly hair).[4]

Derivatives date from the 14th century on: capelluto “long-haired” in Giovanni Villani (before 1348), capelvenere “maidenhair fern”, from Late Latin capillus Veneris “Venus's hair” (1310), capigliatura in Vasari (1550), the thin pasta capellini (1846), and capellone “a long-haired young man” (1962).[3][5] The learned capillare “thin as a hair” (about 1350) gave vaso capillare, and its sense “widespread” is a metaphor from it.[3]

Many idioms use the word: avere un diavolo per capello “to be in a foul temper”, averne fin sopra i capelli “to be fed up”, far rizzare i capelli “to make one's hair stand on end”, and spaccare il capello in quattro “to split hairs”.[6][4]

Timeline

  • 10th century – The Glossario di Monza records the word.[2]
  • Before 1250 – Cavello in Cielo d'Alcamo.[3][6]
  • End of the 13th century – Capello in the Novellino.[3]
  • Before 1348 – Capelluto “long-haired” in Giovanni Villani.[3]
  • 1550 – Capigliatura in Giorgio Vasari.[3]
  • 1846 – Capellini, the pasta, is recorded.[3]
  • 1962 – Capellone “long-haired young man” is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A hair of the human head: Ho trovato un capello bianco.[6][4][1]
  2. (plural) The hair of the head as a whole; a hairstyle: Si è tagliata i capelli cortissimi.[6][4][1]
  3. (figurative) A tiny amount, a hair's breadth: c'è mancato un capello “it was a close shave”, a capello “exactly”.[6]

Word family

  • capellatura
  • capellini
  • capellone
  • capelluto
  • capelvenere
  • capigliatura
  • capillare
  • accapigliarsi
  • scapigliato
  • scapigliatura

Usage notes

Capello “hair” and cappello “hat” differ only in the double ⟨pp⟩.[1] GDLI lists a rare second capello “head of an alembic”, of uncertain origin.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  4. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 732
  8. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 10, 1643
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  11. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2, 679