capriolo

Forms

capriolo m (plural caprioli)^[1] Old and dialect forms include Old Italian cavriolo, Old Italian cavriuolo, Old Italian capriuolo and Old Italian crapuolo.^[2] Capriuolo survives as a literary form.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *capreŏlus, the spoken form of classical Latin caprĕolus (“roe deer”).^[5][6][1] The Latin word is a diminutive of caprea (“wild goat, roe”),^[5][7][8] which is formed on caper (“he-goat”);^[1] Nocentini derives it from the word for “he-goat” directly.^[9] The forms with ⟨v⟩, such as cavriolo, are northern, and Prati thinks the Tuscan form with ⟨v⟩ came from Venetian.^[6][10]

The word continues in French chevreuil, Occitan cabriol, Catalan cabriol, Friulian ciavrûl and Romanian căprior.^[9][11][12] Latin already used it for a vine tendril (Varro, Pliny) and for tools (Columella, Vitruvius), and had a feminine capreola.^[11]

De Vaan thinks the word for “he-goat” is more likely a loanword than an inherited word: no single Indo-European word for “goat” can be reconstructed, and the word is suspiciously close to Welsh gafr.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Roman Storie de Troia e de Roma (1252–1258).^[2] A Prato account of 1275 has chapriuolo,^[14] and Folgore da San Gimignano, at the end of the 13th century, promises for February a fine hunt di cervi, cavrioli e di cinghiari (“of stags, roe deer and boars”).^[5][15] The Old Italian senses are the roe deer, its meat, and the young of the deer or the goat; it also translated the stars called Haedi “kids”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Boccaccio has cavriuoli in the Decameron, and capriolo appears in his Caccia di Diana about 1334 and in the Anonimo romano in the mid-14th century.^[15][14][5] The longer capriuolo is recorded from Filarete (about 1465) and Ariosto.^[14][10]

Beside the animal, the word kept the Latin sense of a vine tendril (now capreolo),^[16][17] and in heraldry it names the chevron, from Latin capreolus “rafter, prop” in Vitruvius.^[17][18] In the 19th century it was also a wooden wedge driven under the wheels of a ship's guns.^[19][16] In target shooting capriolo corrente is a moving deer-shaped target.^[20][18]

Timeline

• 1252–1258 – The Roman Storie de Troia e de Roma has the word.^[2]
• 1275 – Chapriuolo appears in an account from Prato.^[14]
• Late 13th century – Folgore da San Gimignano writes cavrioli.^[5]
• About 1334 – Boccaccio uses capriolo.^[14]
• About 1465 – Filarete uses capriuolo.^[14]
• 1590 – Cavriuolo appears in the Paduan poet Magagnò.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), a small deer with short antlers.^[7][3][4]
2. Any of several other species of the deer family.^[7]
3. The venison of the roe deer.^[21][1]
4. (heraldry) A chevron.^[7][18]

Word family

• caprioletto

Related words

• capriola
• capra
• capro
• French chevreuil

Usage notes

The female is capriola.^[6][20] Saltare come un capriolo is to leap nimbly.^[21] In dialect capriolo can also mean a somersault, as in Pasolini.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
5. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 235
11. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 11, 647
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ 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
15. ^ 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
16. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
17. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2, 732
18. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
19. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 746
20. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
21. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli