scapitare

Forms

scapitare (first-person singular present scàpito, first-person singular past historic scapitài, past participle scapitàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian iscapitare, iscapitamo and schapitaro.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Italian s- + capitare, with the prefix in its sense of taking away.^[3][4][5] Zingarelli and Gabrielli add that the meaning of capitale “capital” was laid over it.^[6][7] For DELI and Nocentini the base is Latin caput (“head”) in the sense of “capital”, with the same prefix, and DELI sees the influence of that verb too.^[8] The verb first meant to lose one's capital.^[8][9][10] The LEI treats the word as a prefixed form of Vulgar Latin *capitāre.^[11]

Meyer-Lübke set up *discapitāre “to suffer a loss” and Körting *excapitāre, both with Old Occitan descaptar as a cognate.^[12][13][1] The LEI lists that form separately: it survives in discapitare, in Friulian and in the Old Occitan verb.^[11] Wiktionary also mentions a Late Latin excapitāre, which is recorded only as “to behead”.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Sienese document of 1277–1282, in the sense of losing money in a business.^[2] DELI dates the verb before 1292, in B. Giamboni, who would rather “lose” than earn shamefully, in the sense of suffering a material or moral loss.^[8][14]

Semantic evolution

From the loss of money the verb widened to any damage, already in Old Italian.^[2] Later writers speak of losing out in riches, favour or reputation.^[14][10] A transitive use, “to lose (something)”, is now obsolete.^[15][6][7]

In modern Italian the verb mostly appears with the particle ci, as scapitarci “to lose out”, and by extension it means to come off worse in a comparison.^[4][16][10] The noun scapito “loss” is recorded from 1494, in L. Pacioli, and the phrase a scapito di “to the detriment of” from 1832.^[8]

Timeline

• 1277–1282 – First record, in a Sienese document.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Giamboni uses iscapitare.^[8][14]
• 14th century – The derivative scapitamento is recorded.^[15]
• 1494 – The noun scapito appears in L. Pacioli.^[8]
• 17th century – A transitive use is recorded.^[15]
• 1832 – First record of a scapito di.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To suffer a material or moral loss, to lose out; often as scapitarci: Con quel contratto ci abbiamo scapitato.^{[3][4][16][6]}
2. (intransitive) To come off worse in a comparison, to look inferior: Accanto a lui ci scapito.^[4][16][10]
3. (intransitive, uncommon) To decline in importance, to be neglected.^[3][10]
4. (intransitive, literary) To get worse.^[3][10]
5. (transitive) To lose money: scapitare forti somme.^[3]

Word family

• scapito
• discapito
• scapitamento

Related words

• capitare
• capo
• discapitare

Usage notes

GDLI records a separate old transitive scapitare “to depose from the office of captain”, a shortened form of scapitanare.^[14] The variant discapitare has the same meaning.^[1][9]

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 c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
6. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
8. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 2, 680
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
14. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 17, 824
15. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3372
16. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse