cappellano

Forms

cappellano m (plural cappellani)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian capellano, Old Italian capelan, Old Italian chapelano and Sicilian cappillanu.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin cappellanus, recorded from the 8th century, formed from cappella (“chapel”) with the suffix -ānus.^[3][1][2] GRADIT, Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti treat it as an Italian derivative, from Italian cappella + -ano.^[4][5][6] The same word is French chapelain, Spanish capellán and Portuguese capelão;^[7][3] DEI calls it a word of the western Romance and Germanic area.^[7][3]

The Medieval Latin noun for a chapel is a diminutive of Late Latin cappa (“hood; cloak”).^[8] The LEI traces it to Merovingian Latin: in an oath of 679 it names the cloak of Saint Martin of Tours, and by 710 the building that kept this relic; the Carolingian chancery spread the word to northern Italy.^[9] Meyer-Lübke too sets the starting point in France, no earlier than the 5th century.^[7] The first chaplain was thus the keeper of Saint Martin's cloak.^[10][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a Florentine document of 1290–1295.^[2] DELI dates the sense “priest who serves a chapel or oratory” to Malispini in the 13th century, where a dying patriarch entrusts a relic to his cappellano.^[11][12]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian a cappellano was a priest who served a chapel, and in Florence also a lay officer of each district, in charge of public order and of the cleanliness of squares and streets.^[2] DEI records this lay sense, “secretary, officer”, from the 13th to the 17th century;^[3] the Medieval Latin word had come to mean a court secretary in the 10th century, and Old French chapelain is found in the 12th.^[3] The Leggenda aurea of the 14th century uses the word for the keeper of Saint Martin's cloak.^[9]

Tommaseo records the priest who helps the parish priest and the army chaplain, cappellano militare.^[10] Today the word covers a priest who serves a chapel without the care of souls, the holder of a chaplaincy, and the priest attached to an institution such as a hospital, a prison or the army.^[4][6][13]

Timeline

• 1290–1295 – A Florentine document has cappellano.^[2]
• 1295 – The Capitoli of a Sienese confraternity use it.^[9][14]
• 1301 – Venetian capellan is recorded.^[9]
• Before 1672 – Magri explains it as the keeper of Saint Martin's cloak.^[9][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A priest who celebrates Mass in a particular chapel or oratory, without the care of souls.^[4][6][15]
2. A priest who assists a parish priest, a curate.^[4][6]
3. A chaplain: a priest attached to a community or institution: cappellano militare, army chaplain;^[4][6][14] il cappellano del carcere.^[4][6][14]
4. The holder of a chaplaincy.^[4][5][15]
5. In a procession, the person who carries the cross and the bishop's insignia.^[4]

Word family

• cappellania
• arcicappellano
• cappellanato

Related words

• cappella
• cappa
• French chapelain

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 742
4. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e f Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 11, 481
10. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana