caprone

Forms

caprone m (plural caproni)^[1]

Etymology

Nocentini and Zingarelli hold that it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *caprō (“he-goat”), formed from Latin caper (“he-goat”).^[2][3] The LEI notes that Latin caprō is recorded in Apuleius in the 2nd century, and its age and spread suggest that it lived on in the Romance languages.^[4] GRADIT, Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti instead treat it as formed from Italian capro + -one, an augmentative.^[5][6][7][1] The Romance cognates include Venetian cavron, Friulian cjavron, Catalan cabró, Spanish cabrón and Portuguese cabrão.^[2][8][4][1] The word French chevron (“rafter”) comes from a related form.^[4][8]

De Vaan derives the Latin noun from Proto-Italic *kapro- (“he-goat”) and thinks it more likely a loanword than an inherited word, because no single Indo-European word for goat can be reconstructed and the form is close to Celtic words such as Old Irish gabor (“goat”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's only Old Italian record is in a Florentine translation of Alfonso X's astronomical books, about 1341, as the name of a star in the constellation Auriga.^[10] The LEI dates the common sense, the male of the goat, from 1538 in Annibal Caro, and DELI from 1539 in Pier Francesco Giambullari.^[4][11]

Semantic evolution

Giambullari describes a figure with a goatskin over the shoulder and goats' heads on its back.^[12] The figurative sense of a rough, coarse person is recorded in Aretino in 1536.^[11][3] Tuscan proverbs compare a bearded man to a caprone, and in popular speech the word could name the devil, shown as a goat.^[13][14][15] The old phrase caprone selvatico meant the chamois.^[6][14] The northern dialects have their own regular forms, such as Venetian and Bolognese cavrón and Milanese kavrṹ.^[4]

Timeline

• About 1341 – A Florentine astronomical text uses caprone as the name of a star.^[10]
• 1536 – Aretino uses it for a coarse person.^[11]
• 1538 – Annibal Caro uses it for the he-goat.^[4]
• 1539 – Pier Francesco Giambullari uses it.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A billy goat, the male of the domestic goat, the same as capro: Il caprone guidava il gregge giù dal pendio.^[5][6][7][1]
2. (figurative, derogatory) A coarse, uncouth person, unkempt in appearance or slow of mind.^[5][6][7][3]

Word family

• caproncino

Related words

• capro
• capra
• Latin caper
• Spanish cabrón

Usage notes

Puzzare come un caprone means to stink strongly.^[16] A separate caprone in chemistry, recorded in 1955, is a ketone with two radicals of caproic acid, formed from caproico with the suffix -one.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ 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, 686
5. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ a b c d 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, p. 2, 732
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana