cappello

Forms

cappello m (plural cappelli)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian capello, capelo, capiello, cappel and chapello.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin cappellus (“head covering”), a diminutive of Late Latin cappa (“hood; cloak”).^[3][4][5][1] The Medieval Latin word is recorded from the 9th century.^[6][1] The same word is French chapeau, Occitan capell, Catalan capell, Spanish capillo and Portuguese capelo, and Meyer-Lübke also lists Engadinese and Friulian forms;^[4][7] Spanish and Portuguese capelo “cardinal's hat” were borrowed from Italian.^[4][7]

The origin of the Late Latin noun, recorded from the 6th century in Gregory of Tours, is disputed.^[8] Isidore of Seville connects it with Late Latin capitulare (“head covering”), and the leading theory takes it as a shortened form of that word, from Latin caput (“head”).^[1] Alessio instead thought it probably eastern, from Persian قبا (qabā) through Greek.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur, from the last quarter of the 12th century.^[2] DELI's first date is 1233, in the accounts of Matasalà di Spinello of Siena, which list money spent on a felt hat.^[3][9] The sense is “hat, head covering”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the word for the red hat of cardinals and for the dignity itself, for a helmet, and for a garland or crown: Dante hopes to take “the crown” (prenderò 'l cappello) at the font where he was baptised.^[2][5] It also named the leather hood of a hawk, a lampshade, the head of a nail and other covers.^[2] The cap of a mushroom is recorded in Luigi Pulci (1483), and the introductory paragraph of a written piece, especially a newspaper article, in Ippolito Nievo before 1861.^[3]

Many phrases grew around the hat as a sign of respect and status: fare tanto di cappello “to take one's hat off to someone”, and prendere cappello “to take offence”.^[10][11][12] Cappello could also stand for a gentleman, as against common people who wore caps.^[5] The derivative cappelletti named Dalmatian and Albanian light horsemen of the Venetian Republic, after the hat they wore instead of a helmet, and, from 1819, the stuffed pasta shaped like a little hat, Romagnol caplet.^[3]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – The Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur has the word.^[2]
• 1209 – Medieval Latin capellectum “small hat” is recorded at Ravenna.^[3]
• 1233 – A Sienese account book has capello di feltro “felt hat”.^[3][9]
• 1288 – Medieval Latin cappellarius “hatter” is recorded at Bologna.^[3]
• Around 1350 – An object shaped like a hat is called cappello in the translation of Crescenzi.^[3]
• 1483 – Luigi Pulci uses it for the cap of a mushroom.^[3]
• 1819 – Cappelletti as a stuffed pasta is recorded.^[3]
• Before 1861 – Ippolito Nievo uses cappello for the opening of a piece of writing.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. hat: a head covering, usually with a brim: un cappello di paglia per il sole.^{[5][10][13][1]}
2. (by extension) Anything that covers or tops something like a hat: the head of a nail, a lampshade, a cover over a chimney; a cap of cloud on a mountain.^[5][11][13]
3. (botany) The cap of a mushroom.^[5][14][13]
4. (figurative) The introductory part of a speech or a piece of writing, especially of a newspaper article.^[13][14][12]
5. (winemaking) The mass of grape skins floating on fermenting must.^[5][11]
6. (literary, archaic) A garland, a poet's crown.^[5][10][12]

Word family

• cappellino
• cappelletto
• cappellaccio
• cappellaio
• cappelliera
• cappelleria
• cappellificio
• cappellata
• scappellare
• scappellotto
• incappellare

Related words

• cappa
• cappuccio
• cappotto
• French chapeau

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include fare tanto di cappello “to take one's hat off to” and prendere cappello “to take offence”;^[10][11][14] cappello cardinalizio is the cardinal's red hat and his rank.^[10][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 h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 11, 375
9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli