capitone

Forms

capitone m (plural capitoni)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin capitō (“big-headed; a fish with a large head”), a derivative of caput (“head”).^[2][3][4][1] The LEI finds the Latin word in Ausonius as the name of a big-headed fish, traditionally taken to be the chub.^[5] It derives from the word for head both the eel name and the northern word for a firedog.^[5]

DELI calls it a southern word.^[2] Medieval Latin at Naples has it in 1302, and Panzini in 1905 described it as very common in Naples and spreading to other regions, above all central Italy, for large eels eaten on Christmas Eve.^[2] Prati too takes the eel name from Neapolitan, and Cortelazzo and Marcato give the Neapolitan form capetone.^[6][7] Tommaseo had already found it alive in Tuscany in the 19th century.^[2][8]

The same Latin word, with a changed suffix, gave cavedano and French chevesne “chub”.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini dates the word to 1524, and DELI's first example is Camillo Porzio (before 1580), who speaks of lakes Varano and Lesina che producono grossissime anguille, chiamate capitoni (which produce very large eels called capitoni).^[3][2][9]

Semantic evolution

Mattioli (1550) used capitoni for gobies, fish he says were called ghiozzi in Tuscany.^[5][9] The sense of a firedog is older: a Venetian document of 1300 has cavedoni.^[10] Tommaseo calls capitoni an Aretine word for andirons.^[10][9] Nocentini lists Emilian cavdón and Venetian cavióni in this sense.^[3]

The eel is above all the dish of Christmas Eve in Naples and the south.^[2][7] Settembrini calls it the emblem of the year that turns back on itself, and Imbriani shows Neapolitans hurrying home to eat il capitone e gli struffoli.^[9][7] Zoology later named a group of tropical birds after the Latin word.^[4][11] English borrowed capitone for the eel.^[1]

Timeline

• 1300 – A Venetian document has cavedoni “firedogs”.^[10]
• 1302 – The word appears in Medieval Latin at Naples.^[2]
• 1524 – First Italian record of the eel name.^[3]
• 1550 – Mattioli uses capitoni for gobies.^[5]
• Before 1580 – Porzio writes of the large eels of Varano and Lesina.^[2]
• 1905 – Panzini describes the word as Neapolitan and spreading.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large female eel, traditionally eaten at Christmas: La vigilia di Natale a Napoli si frigge il capitone.^{[4][11][12][13][14]}
2. (regional, usually plural) A firedog, the same as alare.^{[4][11][12][14][9]}
3. (zoology) A bird of the genus Capito, of a family of tropical birds with brightly coloured plumage.^[4][11]

Related words

• capo
• cavedano
• Latin capito
• Latin caput

Usage notes

A separate older word capitone meant a coarse, uneven silk thread, or silk waste.^[4][10] The TLIO's first record is in Pegolotti's merchant handbook of the first half of the 14th century, and French borrowed it as capiton (1386).^[10][4][15] GRADIT derives it, with doubt, from the same Latin word.^[4] DEI and Battaglia suggest the plural of caput, for the knots in the thread.^[4][16][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 11, 179
6. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 230
7. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Marcato, Carla (1998), I dialetti italiani: dizionario etimologico, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c d e f Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2, 696
10. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ a b c d 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
16. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 736