cappone

Forms

cappone m (plural capponi)^[1] Old Italian forms include capone, chapone, chappone and northern capon and capun.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *cappōnem (“capon”), the popular form of classical Latin cāpō (“capon”), with a doubled consonant that Devoto calls expressive.^{[3][4][5][1][6]} Latin also had cāpus in the same sense.^[4][7] The word is panromance: French chapon, Occitan capó, Catalan capó, Spanish capón, Portuguese capão and Romanian capun continue the same Vulgar Latin form.^[4][8] German Kapaun is a borrowing of the same word.^[8]

The origin of the Latin word is unclear.^[4][1] DELI and Devoto compare Ancient Greek κόπτω (kóptō, “to cut”).^[3][6] Nocentini sets the Latin nouns beside the late Latin verbs capulō (“to cut, shear”) and capellō, and outside Latin beside the Greek verb, Lithuanian kapóti (“to chop”) and above all the Slavic words for castrating, such as Proto-Slavic *skopiti (“to castrate”) and *skopьcь (“eunuch”).^[4][1] Wiktionary finds the Slavic link attractive but formally difficult, since the Slavic root cannot explain the Latin vowel, and thinks a substrate source more likely.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is chapone in the Sienese accounts of Matasalà in 1233, and cappone appears in Pistoian texts in 1297.^[3] The TLIO's first attestation is in the Cremonese poet Ugo di Perso, of the 13th century.^[2] The sense from the start is a cockerel castrated while young so that it grows fat and tender, often named as a delicacy.^[2][3] Matasalà notes three soldi spent on un paio di caponi (a pair of capons) sent as a gift.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already had figurative uses: far cappone meant to castrate and also to make a fool of someone, and the word was said ironically of a cleric who made a show of chastity.^[2] Medieval writers also believed that a stone, the alettorio, was found in the gizzard of capons.^[2] Bono Giamboni's translation of the Tesoro explains that the cock is the only bird that men castrate to make capons, che sono molto buoni (which are very good).^[9][10] Tuscan proverbs contrast bread eaten with love with a capon eaten in sorrow (Più vale un pan con amore, che un cappone con dolore).^[10]

From the noun came capponare “to castrate cockerels”, recorded before 1400 in Franco Sacchetti,^[3] and in the 18th century accapponare, which lives on in far venire la pelle di cappone (to give goose pimples).^[4][11][12] The modern dictionaries record the capon as a traditional Christmas dish,^[13] several fish of the gurnard family and in Liguria and Tuscany the scorpionfish,^[5][14] the sailors' dish cappone di galera and the Ligurian salad cappone magro,^[13][15] and in Rome a slice of toasted bread rubbed with garlic, now usually called bruschetta.^[5][14] Figuratively it is a man without virility.^[12][15] In older Italian it was also a castrato singer.^[16]

German borrowed the word as Cappon in 1520, later replaced by the French-derived Kapaun.^[17]

Timeline

• 1233 – Chapone is recorded in the accounts of Matasalà.^[3]
• 1297 – The form cappone appears in Pistoian texts.^[3]
• Before 1400 – Franco Sacchetti uses the verb capponare “to castrate cockerels”.^[3]
• 1520 – German Cappon is first recorded.^[17]
• 18th century – The verb accapponare is formed.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A capon: a cockerel castrated young so that its meat grows fat and tender.^{[5][13][12][1]}
2. (zoology) Any of several gurnards (family Triglidae), such as the tub gurnard.^[5][13][1]
3. (zoology, regional) The scorfano, the scorpionfish, in Liguria and Tuscany.^[5][14]
4. (cooking) Cappone di galera: an old sailors' dish of breadcrumb soaked in vinegar with pieces of fish and other ingredients.^[13][15][14]
5. (cooking) Cappone magro: a Ligurian salad of vegetables, fish, eggs and green sauce on a base of ship's biscuit.^[13][11]
6. (regional, Rome) A slice of toasted bread with garlic and oil, a bruschetta.^[5][13][16]
7. (figurative, colloquial) A man lacking virility.^[12][15][18]

Word family

• accapponare
• capponare
• scapponata
• capponaccio
• capponaia
• capponata

Related words

• Latin cāpō
• French chapon

Usage notes

Far venire la pelle di cappone means to make someone shudder, from the bumpy skin of a plucked bird.^[11][12][16] In nautical language cappone is also a less common variant of capone, the heavy tackle at the bow used to hoist the anchor, which Gabrielli and the GDLI derive from Venetian capon, an augmentative of capo.^{[5][14][16][19]}

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 f g h 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 d e f g 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. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
18. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
19. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2, 723