cappa

Forms

cappa f (plural cappe)^[1] Forms in the earliest texts include Old Italian capa and chappa.^[2] The northern form Venetian capa is recorded at Venice and Genoa.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin cappa (“hood; cloak”), first a kind of cap and then a cloak; the LEI cites it from the 6th century in Gregory of Tours, and Isidore uses it for a head covering.^{[4][5][6][3][7]} The word survives in every Romance language except Romanian: Old French chape, Occitan capa, Catalan capa, Spanish capa and Portuguese capa.^[3][5][8] French cape is a later borrowing, from Italian according to DEI, from Occitan according to Nocentini.^[9][5] Latin passed the word to Old High German kappa, Albanian and Hungarian.^[9]

Its origin is not certain.^[4][1] Nocentini, GRADIT, DELI and Devoto take it as a familiar form of Latin caput (“head”), with the expressive double consonant;^{[5][6][4][10][1]} Wiktionary gives the leading theory as a shortening of capitulāre.^{[5][6][4][10][1]} Pagliaro proposed a Persian origin from a Middle Persian word for a cloak, which DELI rejects, and Alessio an eastern word through Greek.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a document from Savona of 1178–1182, with the sense of a long, ample cloak wrapping the whole person, often hooded.^[2][3] DELI cites a short hooded cloak worn by gentlemen and knights at Siena in 1295.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the cappa was also the rich mantle of churchmen and dignitaries and the habit of monks and confraternities;^[2] entrare in cappa meant to take orders and lasciare la cappa to leave them.^[2] It was used figuratively for the vault of the sky.^[2] Dante's hypocrites wear cloaks of gilded lead, the source of cappa di piombo, an oppressive weight.^[4][11]

The hood over a hearth is recorded from Matteo Bandello in 1554, named for its shape, like French manteau for the mantelpiece.^[4][9][12] The pair cappa e spada, the emblem of a gentleman, gave the name of the swashbuckling novel and film.^[4] Later senses come from seafaring (a tarpaulin, the storm sails, the speed held in a storm) and building (a waterproof layer, a segment of a dome).^[6][13]

Timeline

• 1178–1182 – A Savona document records capa.^[2][3]
• 1295 – Cappa is recorded at Siena.^[4]
• c. 1313 – Dante uses cappa for a large cloak.^[3][6]
• 1554 – Matteo Bandello uses it for the hood of a chimney.^[4]
• 1905 – Cappalunga, the razor clam, is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large hooded cloak, worn in the past especially by nobles, knights and clergy.^[6][13][1]
2. An elegant woman's cape worn over an evening dress.^[6][14]
3. (Tuscany) An overcoat.^[6][15]
4. (figurative) Something that weighs down oppressively: una cappa di afa.^[6][16]
5. The hood of a chimney or stove, which carries smoke and fumes to the flue.^[6][17][13]
6. (building) A waterproof layer laid over masonry against damp.^[6][17]
7. (architecture) Each segment of a dome between two ribs.^[6]
8. (nautical) A tarpaulin protecting hatches and instruments on deck; the minimum speed and sail kept in a storm: navigare alla cappa.^[6][13]
9. (nautical) A bonus paid to the master of a merchant ship for good care of the cargo.^[6][17]

Word family

• cappotto
• cappalunga
• incappottare
• accappatoio
• incappare
• cappuccio
• cappatico
• cappato
• capparone
• cappeggiare
• cappellina
• cappino
• sottocappa

Related words

• cappella
• cappello
• scappare
• Late Latin cappa

Usage notes

The letter name cappa “k”, also the Greek letter kappa, is a separate word, recorded from 1726: it comes from Late Latin cappa, from Ancient Greek κάππα (káppa), of Semitic origin.^[6][5][12] The cappa that names several edible bivalve molluscs, recorded before 1464 in Michele Savonarola and in the Medieval Latin of Argenta in 1391, is named from the cloak: the ridges of its shell recall the folds of a mantle.^[4][11] The proverb per un punto Martin perse la cappa says that a small slip can cost a great deal.^[11][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 f g Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 11, 375
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 741
10. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 80
11. ^ a b c 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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2, 716
13. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse