capitagna

Forms

capitagna f (plural capitagne)^[1] The northern dialects have Lombard cavedagna (Milanese, 1697), Emilian cavdagna and Venetian cavedagna, caveagna;^[2][3] Umbrian has capetagna.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin capitānea, the feminine of capitāneus (“at the head”), from Latin caput (“head”), because it is the strip of land at the head of a field.^{[4][1][5][6][3]} The Latin adjective is recorded in Cassiodorus in the sense “at the head of a line of verse”.^[2] The noun, meaning “headland of a field”, is typical of northern and central Italy.^[2] The same adjective, taken in other senses, gave capitano.^[2]

Its doublet capezzagna is from Vulgar Latin *capitianea, formed on capitium (see capezzo).^[7][5] The northern forms cavedagna and cavdagna answer to the Tuscan word.^[8][9] Meyer-Lübke took the Italian word from the northern form,^[9] but Prati found no ground for that.^[8] The word for “head” continues Proto-Italic *kaput.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is from 1767, in G. Lapi, for the strip at the head of a field that is ploughed crosswise.^[2][7] DELI, after Prati, and GRADIT date it to 1777.^[4][5][8]

Semantic evolution

Lastri, writing on agriculture, speaks of a field that is curved only nelle sue testate o capitagne, “at its ends or headlands”.^[10][11] Tommaseo defines the word as the strip at the head of a field that cannot be ploughed straight, so it is ploughed across or left untilled.^[11] The LEI also gives the sense of a grassy path where surplus water from the fields gathers.^[2] In the 20th century Tombari wrote of peasants who still had blades of grass from the capitagne on their shoes.^[10]

Prati records a second, millers' sense: a thick oak beam wedged into the masonry, on which the head of the wheel rests.^[8]

Timeline

• 1697 – Milanese cavedagna is recorded.^[2]
• 1767 – G. Lapi uses capitagna for the headland of a field.^[2][7]
• 1777 – The date DELI and GRADIT give for the word.^[4][5]
• 1839 – Cherubini reports capezzagna or capitagna from parts of Tuscany.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (agriculture) A headland: either of the strips at the two ends of a field where the plough turns, ploughed last or left untilled; the same as capezzagna.^{[12][5][13][6]}

Related words

• capezzagna
• capo
• capitano
• Latin caput

Usage notes

The TLIO records capitanea in a 14th-century Latin–Aretine glossary as a weaving term: a coloured thread put at the head of the cloth being woven, to mark where work should resume.^[14] GRADIT marks capitagna as regional.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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, 1
3. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 734
4. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 229
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ 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, 686
11. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
13. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it