cappio

Forms

cappio m (plural cappi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin capulum (“noose, lasso”), from Latin capiō (“to take, seize”).^[2][3][4][5] Sabatini–Coletti and Wiktionary start from a contracted spoken form Vulgar Latin *caplus, and the syncopated form is attested in the Latin glosses.^[6][1][7]

The Latin noun, “rope”, is found only in Isidore, but DEI and the LEI point out that it must be older, since the verb capulāre (“to catch with a lasso”) is used by Columella in the 1st century.^[8][7] It is the same formation as capulus (“handle, hilt”), and GRADIT has the sense pass from “handle” to “noose”.^[7][4] Devoto compares the suffix of figulus (“potter”) beside fingō (“to shape”), and bibulus (“thirsty”) beside bibō (“to drink”).^[9] De Vaan traces the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *kh₂p-i- (“to seize”), with a non-Indo-European origin as the alternative.^[10]

The syncopated form gave Old French chable, modern French câble, and Occitan cable and Catalan cable, from which Spanish cable and Portuguese cabre were taken, all meaning “cable”.^[3][7] A form with the consonants swapped gave Friulian clap, and in the south DEI cites Calabrian cacchiu.^[7][8] Prati derives old chiappo, a ring to which a rope is fastened, from the same Latin word.^[11] Körting reports that Caix also traced scapolare “to set free” to it.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in the sermons of Giordano da Pisa, 1304, with the sense of a knot that comes undone when one end is pulled, and of a noose.^[2] Giordano writes in sulle forche t'ha messo il cappio in collo, “on the gallows he has put the noose round your neck”.^[13]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word meant a knot that tightens when one end of a rope is pulled, a noose, and a loop tied in a rope to serve as a stirrup.^[14] Boccaccio's Decameron has a rope con certi nodi e cappi, “with knots and loops”, for climbing up and down.^[13][15] By extension the word came to mean a ribbon tied in a bow as an ornament on women's clothes or hair.^[15][4][7] Pistoia already had chapoletti “loops, ribbons” in 1339.^[15][4][7]

Northern dialects keep forms close to Latin: Bergamasque and Brescian cápol “noose” and Veronese càpola “ribbon, bow”.^[7] Modern Italian added the figurative avere il cappio al collo, to be under a hard constraint, and a term of mathematics, the loop of a plane curve.^[16][4][5]

Timeline

• 1304 – Giordano da Pisa uses cappio for a noose.^[2]
• 1339 – Chapoletti “loops, ribbons” is recorded at Pistoia.^[7]
• 14th century – Nicolò de' Rossi uses the word, the TLIO's first record.^[14]
• 1759 – Brescian cápol is recorded by Gagliardi.^[7]
• 1760 – Veronese capoli “bows” is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A slipknot: a knot that tightens, or comes undone, when one end is pulled.^[4][16][6]
2. A noose, a halter: avere il cappio al collo is to be trapped or forced to accept something.^[4][16][5]
3. (dated) An ornamental bow on women's clothes.^[4][16][6]
4. (mathematics) A loop of a plane curve: a finite arc without singular points whose two ends meet in a node of the curve.^[4][16][17]

Word family

• accappiare
• accappiatura
• incappiare
• scappiare
• cappietto

Related words

• capire
• chiappo
• Latin capulus
• French câble

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 11, 1002
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 743
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 233
12. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
13. ^ 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, 722
14. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
15. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ 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
17. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)