capelluto

Forms

capelluto (feminine capelluta, masculine plural capelluti, feminine plural capellute)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *capillūtus (“having hair”), a form not recorded in classical Latin but presupposed by the Romance words, from capillus (“hair”), the source of capello, and the suffix -ūtus.^[2][1][3] Its cognates are French chevelu (about 1170, Chrétien de Troyes), Old Occitan cabellut (about 1200), Spanish cabelludo and Portuguese cabeludo, recorded from the 13th century.^[2][3]

GRADIT, Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti take it instead as an Italian formation from the noun with the suffix -uto, and Wiktionary notes the same surface analysis.^[4][5][6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Venetian Dibattito dell'Anima e del Corpo, from the last quarter of the 13th century, with the sense “having (thick) hair”.^[7] Giovanni Villani, before 1348, calls a king of the Franks Clodoveo il Capelluto, “Clodio the Long-haired”.^[8][7][9]

Semantic evolution

Old Venetian cavelluda and Pisan capelluta of the first half of the 14th century describe people with long, thick hair.^[2] Later the word spread to other things that look hairy: plants (1659, Daniello Bartoli), roots with dense rootlets (from 1712, Magalotti), birds with a crest on the head (from 1808), and in Carducci (1881) a comet with its coma.^[2][10] A pastoral poem tells a girl she looks like a gallina capelluta, a crested hen, as she walks to church with her head held high.^[11]

The phrase cute capelluta, the skin of the head, appears in 1828, and cuoio capelluto, the usual term for the scalp, from about 1936.^[2] The dialects took the word further: at Monopoli in Apulia vigne capellute were unpruned vines (1571), in Romagna cavlùda is a vine cutting, and in Salento kapeḍḍúta is a whirlwind.^[2]

Timeline

• 1275–1300 – The Venetian Dibattito dell'Anima e del Corpo has the first record.^[7]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani writes of Clodoveo il Capelluto.^[8][7]
• 1571 – Vigne capellute “unpruned vines” is recorded at Monopoli.^[2]
• 1659 – Daniello Bartoli uses the word of hairy plants.^[2]
• 1712 – Magalotti uses it of roots with rootlets.^[2]
• 1808 – It is used of crested birds.^[2]
• 1828 – Cute capelluta “the skin of the head” is recorded.^[2]
• 1881 – Carducci writes of a capelluta cometa.^[2][10]
• About 1936 – Cuoio capelluto “scalp” is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having a lot of hair, or long hair; hairy, long-haired: un ragazzo magro e capelluto.^[4][6][12]
2. Of birds and other animals: having a crest or tuft on the head.^[4][12]
3. Of roots: having dense rootlets.^[4][10][13]
4. (literary) Of a comet or star: having a coma or halo of light.^[4][10][13]

Related words

• capello
• Latin capillus
• French chevelu

Usage notes

Cuoio capelluto is the scalp, the skin of the head where the hair grows.^[12][10][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 10, 1707
3. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
4. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
8. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli