caporale

Forms

caporale m or f by sense (plural caporali)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian caporal, Old Italian capurali and Old Italian chaporale.^[2] The feminine is jocular: caporalessa or caporala.^[3][4][5]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian capora + -ale, the first part being an old plural of capo (“head”).^[6][7][3][8] DELI cites Medieval Latin capora or capura from 1054, a plural used in place of the classical plural of Latin caput (“head”).^[9] DEI cites capor (“chief”) at Treviso in 1337.^[9][10] Devoto–Oli and Treccani start from Vulgar Latin *capus (genitive ⟨*caporis⟩), beside the classical noun.^[5][11][12] Körting saw a plural formed on the model of the plural of Latin corpus (“body”).^[13]

Other scholars explain the suffix by analogy: Pisani with generale, and d'Ovidio with corporale and temporale.^[9][13] DEI also compares the last.^[10] Wiktionary suggests the word is based on the Latin word for body, in the sense “body of troops”.^[1]

The Latin word for head is compared with Old High German houbit and Old English hēafod.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is Bartolomeo da San Concordio, 1302–1308, as an adjective meaning “principal, chief”: Di tutte le ingiustizie niuna è più caporale (“of all injustices none is more grave”).^[2][14] Zingarelli dates the word to 1308.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century caporale was a commander of armed men and the head of a faction.^[2][15] A caporale del popolo was a citizen elected to protect the people's rights.^[2] DEI records it at Florence for a party leader, and at Orvieto and in Corsica for a magnate.^[10] DELI dates the military sense of the lowest graded rank to Villani, before 1348.^[9][14] The adjective “principal” survived in Villani's tutte le caporali città d'Italia but is now obsolete.^[15][11]

From the head of a squad the word passed to the foreman of a gang of workers and, in southern Italy, to an illegal hirer of farm labourers, the practice called caporalato.^[6][5][11] Figuratively it is a bossy, rough person.^[6][5] French borrowed it as caporal (before 1520 “chief”, 1571 “corporal”), and English corporal came from French in the 1570s, perhaps influenced by Latin corpus.^[16][17]

Timeline

• 1054 – Medieval Latin capora “heads” is recorded.^[9]
• 1302–1308 – Bartolomeo da San Concordio uses caporale “principal”.^[2]
• 1337 – Medieval Latin capor “chief” is recorded at Treviso.^[10]
• Before 1348 – Villani uses caporale for a military leader.^[9]
• Before 1520 – French caporal “chief” is recorded.^[16]
• 1571 – French caporal is used for the military rank.^[16]
• 1570s – English corporal is recorded, from French.^[17]
• 1892 – Caporale maggiore is recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (military) A corporal: the lowest graded rank of the army, commanding a squad; a soldier of that rank: caporale di giornata.^[6][5][3][1]
2. (figurative) A bossy, authoritarian person with rough manners.^[6][5][1]
3. The foreman of a gang of workers.^[6][5][11]
4. In southern Italy, a person who illegally recruits farm labourers for an employer at below-standard pay, a gangmaster.^[6][5][1]
5. (printing, in the plural) Quotation marks of the angled kind (« »), named after the chevrons of the rank.^[6][5][3]
6. (archaic) The head of a party or faction; a commander.^[6][4][11]

Adjective

1. (archaic) principal, chief, most important.^[6][2][11]

Word family

• caporalato
• caporalesco
• caporalmaggiore

Related words

• capo
• capitale
• French caporal
• English corporal
• Latin caput

Usage notes

DEI records a separate caporale of northern Italy, a cigar stub or strong pipe tobacco, from French tabac caporal, the better grade beside the soldiers' tobacco.^[10] Caporale is also an occupational surname.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 740
11. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
14. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
15. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
17. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com