capestro

Forms

capestro m (plural capestri)^[1] Early forms include Old Italian capistro and the metathesised Old Italian capresto.^[2][3] The form cavestro is Ligurian and Neapolitan in the Middle Ages and was used in poetry by Tansillo and Pascoli.^[4][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin capistrum (“halter, muzzle”).^[5][6][7][1] The word continues in all the Romance languages: Old French chevoistre (modern French chevêtre), Old Occitan cabestre, Catalan cabestre, Spanish cabestro, Portuguese cabresto and Romanian căpăstru.^[6][4][8]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[5] It has been derived either from caput (“head”) or from capiō (“to take, seize”).^[6] Isidore of Seville explained it as named from the head of beasts of burden,^[9] but Nocentini favours the verb, pointing to capulum (“noose”) and to the use of the halter as a tie in farm life, and the OLD also calls it probably from the verb.^[6][10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Sienese poet Ruggieri Apugliese, in the middle of the 13th century, among senses that start from the rope or strap used to tie horses and other animals.^[2][4] DELI's first dated sense is the rope used for hanging, before 1276 in Pannuccio dal Bagno.^[5][7]

Semantic evolution

Dante used the word for the cord of the Franciscan friars, quel capestro / che solea far li suoi cinti più macri (“that cord which used to make its wearers leaner”).^[5][7] Old Italian already had the figurative senses of a bond or restraint, rompere il capestro “to break free”, and of a threat, the rope round the condemned man's neck.^[2]

The LEI notes that the sense “hangman's rope” is typical of Italo-Romance, together with the transferred sense “rascal”.^[4] Ariosto's tu verrai pur una volta, capestro uses it for a person who deserves the gallows.^[7][11] The derivatives scapestrare and scapestrato, literally “freed from the halter”, are recorded from the 14th century.^[6]

In modern Italian the noun placed after another noun works as an invariable adjective, “imposing very harsh terms”, as in contratto capestro.^[7][11][12]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – Ruggieri Apugliese uses the word in Siena.^[2][4]
• Before 1276 – Pannuccio dal Bagno has it for the hangman's rope.^[5][7]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for the Franciscans' cord.^[5]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca has it for the halter of animals.^[5]
• c. 1370 – Boccaccio's Decameron uses it for a halter.^[4]
• 14th century – Scapestrare and scapestrato appear.^[6]
• 1803 – Scapestrataggine is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A halter: a rope for tying cattle, horses and other animals by the head; a cavezza.^[7][11][13]
2. A noose: the rope with a running knot used for hanging; by extension, the gallows.^[7][11][12]
3. (literary) A scoundrel who deserves hanging.^[7][11][14]
4. (figurative, uncommon) Subjection, or what forces it.^[7][11]
5. (dated) The cord of the Franciscan habit.^[7][15][13]
6. (hunting) A string loop put round the neck of a decoy duck and anchored to the bottom.^[12]

Adjective

1. (invariable, after a noun) Imposing very harsh conditions: contratto capestro, a contract with crushing terms.^{[7][11][12][1]}

Word family

• scapestrare
• scapestrato
• scapestrataggine
• incapestrare
• capestreria

Related words

• cappio
• cavezza
• Latin capistrum
• French chevêtre

Usage notes

Fixed phrases are mettere il capestro a qualcuno “to subdue someone”, rompere il capestro “to break free of all restraint”, and da capestro “fit for the gallows”.^{[7][11][13][12]}

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 228
4. ^ a b c d e f Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 10, 1712
5. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2, 682
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse