capezzo

Forms

capezzo m (plural capezzi)^[1] Dialect forms include Lombard cavezo at Bormio (1628) and, in Apulia, capizze at Giovinazzo, a rope tied to the neck of a pack animal to lead it.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin capitium (“opening of a tunic for the neck”), from caput (“head”).^[3][4][5][1] The LEI traces all the Latin and Romance senses to an adjective Latin *capitius (“relating to the head”), of which the Latin noun, recorded from the 1st century BC in Varro, is one use.^[2] The halter sense goes back to the sense “collar”, as the LEI explains.^[2] Prati groups the word with cavezza, capezzale, capezzolo and scapezzare: partly separate words, but all from the same Latin noun.^[6] In GRADIT it is instead from Italian capezza, a variant of the same word.^[7]

The Latin noun lives on in Old Occitan cabetz, Catalan cabeç (“upper part of a shirt where the head passes”) and Old Galician-Portuguese cabeço, and its plural, taken as a feminine, in Old French chevece.^[2] The old sense “head” survives in Romansh chavazz (“nape”).^[2] The noun itself is formed from Latin caput + -ium.^[1][8] The word for “head” continues Proto-Italic *kaput, from Proto-Indo-European *káput,^[1] though de Vaan thinks it may come from a substrate word for “cup”.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Nadal's Leandreride (1382–1383), a poem in a Tuscan–Venetian language, where capezzo means the same as capezzolo, a nipple.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Machiavelli, in a letter written before 1527, uses the word for a halter: dipoi gli cavi la briglia e il capezzo, “then take the bridle and the halter off him” (of a young mule).^[11][2] Prati and the DEI mark it as old, and Treccani defines it as an old word for cavezza.^[6][3][4] GRADIT lists it as obsolete.^[7]

In the dialects the same word names ropes for animals: at Palena in the Abruzzo a rope for tying animals, at Giovinazzo the rope tied to a pack animal's neck.^[2]

Timeline

• 1382–1383 – Nadal's Leandreride uses capezzo for the nipple.^[10]
• Before 1527 – Machiavelli uses capezzo for a halter.^[11][2]
• 1628 – Bormio cavezo is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (obsolete) A halter, the same as cavezza.^[7][4][1]

Related words

• cavezza
• capezza
• capezzolo
• capezzale
• scapezzare
• capo
• Latin capitium

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 11, 98
3. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 733
4. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 228
7. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET