Etymologically
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capo

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Pronunciation

Forms

capo m (plural capi)[1] The old plurals were Old Italian capita and Old Italian capora.[2][3] Northern forms such as Lombard co go back to the same word.[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin capus, inherited from Latin caput (“head”).[6][1][7] In late imperial Latin the neuter ⟨caput⟩ was remade as a masculine ⟨capus⟩, which is found in an inscription.[4][8] DEI suggests that a further ⟨capus, caporis⟩ on the model of ⟨tempus, temporis⟩ lies behind the old plural ⟨capora⟩ and caporale.[3] The word is pan-Romance: French chef, Occitan cap, Catalan cap, Spanish cabo, Portuguese cabo, Sardinian cabu and Romanian cap.[9][5][10] The French word came back into Italian as ceffo “snout”.[5]

Latin caput goes back to Proto-Italic *kaput and Proto-Indo-European *káput.[1][11] De Vaan compares Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐌱𐌹𐌸 (haubiþ), Old High German houbit and Old English hēafod, whose root vowel points to a variant form in Germanic.[11][9]

Over much of the Romance area the old word lost its concrete meaning to the expressive testa, which according to Rohlfs spread from northern France from the 4th century, while ⟨capo⟩ became more learned and literary.[4] Meyer-Lübke saw the cause in the growth of the word's abstract senses, “chief, leader” and “end”, in Italian and French.[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a gloss in the Glossary of Monza, of the 10th century, for “head”.[2] DELI dates capo “head” to Ristoro d'Arezzo in 1282, the date GRADIT gives;[6][7][12] GDLI quotes him: “Pare che quello ariete abia corna, capo e ventre” (that ram seems to have horns, a head and a belly).[6][7][12]

Semantic evolution

The figurative senses came early: “top, extreme part” in Bono Giamboni before 1292, “one who commands” in Brunetto Latini before 1294, “mind, intellect” in Dante before 1321, a headland in the early 14th century, and “single item of a series” in Giovanni Villani before 1348.[6][13] Capo for a chapter of a book is in Lionardo Salviati before 1589.[6] The TLIO records many medieval set phrases, such as da capo a piedi “from head to foot” and condannare nel capo “to sentence to beheading”.[2]

In capo in titles such as generale in capo is a calque of French en chef; purists condemned it in 1831 and 1886, while Viani defended it as an Italian rendering of Latin in capite.[6] Capodanno has been compared with Hebrew rōʼsh hashshānāh.[6] Derivatives include the Roman capoccione and capoccia, and caporale, from the old plural càpora.[6][9]

German took Capo in several senses from 1508, and Kapo “foreman” in the 17th century;[13] kapo was the name of the prisoners put in charge of others in the Nazi camps.[13] English capo, the head of a Mafia family, is recorded from 1952.[14][13]

Timeline

  • 10th century – Capo “head” is glossed in the Glossary of Monza.[2]
  • 1282 – Ristoro d'Arezzo uses capo for the head of an animal.[6][7]
  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for the top or end of something.[6]
  • Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for a leader.[6]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses it for the mind.[6]
  • Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses it for a single item of a series.[6]
  • Before 1589 – Lionardo Salviati uses it for a chapter.[6]
  • 1952 – English capo “Mafia boss” is first recorded.[14]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The head, especially of a person: Si coprì il capo con un fazzoletto.[7][15][16]
  2. (by extension) The mind, as the seat of thought: Quell'idea gli girava per il capo da giorni.[7][16]
  3. A leader, chief or boss, one who directs others: il capo del governo, il capo dello Stato; also a person with natural authority.[7][15][16]
  4. (colloquial) A familiar way of addressing a stranger, especially a man.[16][1]
  5. An end or extremity, as of a rope, a street or a room: dall'altro capo del filo.[7][16][1]
  6. A cape, a headland; in place names, Capo.[7][1]
  7. A single item of a set, especially a garment (capo di abbigliamento), or a head of livestock.[7][1]
  8. A chapter or section of a text; a point of an argument or a charge (capo d'accusa).[7][6]
  9. (heraldry) The chief, the upper third of a shield.[7][1]

Word family

  • capodanno
  • caporale
  • capoccia
  • capoccione
  • capocchia
  • capolino
  • capata
  • capatina
  • capeggiare
  • capobanda
  • daccapo
  • incaponirsi
  • rompicapo
  • sottocapo

Usage notes

In everyday Italian testa is the usual word for the head, and capo in this sense is formal or belongs to set phrases such as a capo chino, chinare il capo and lavata di capo “scolding”.[16][15][6] Andare a capo is to start a new line.[7][15] DEI lists two minor words of the same form, capo “vine shoot” (14th century) and the nautical capo “rope”, perhaps from Spanish cabo.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 737
  4. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 11, 1021
  5. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  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. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  10. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
  11. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  12. ^ 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, 696
  13. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  14. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  15. ^ 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
  16. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse