Etymologically
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capillatura

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Forms

capillātūra f (genitive capillātūrae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin capillātus (“having hair”) + -ūra, formed on the adjective made from capillus (“hair”).[2][3][4] Wiktionary explains it as capillus with the suffix -tūra, as if through a verb meaning “to furnish with hair” implied by the adjective.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pliny the Elder is its first author, in his books on precious stones: he uses it of hair-like streaks or flaws in a gem.[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

In Christian writers it meant the hair of the head and the way it was dressed.[4][3][6] Tertullian, in his work on the dress of women, says they employ the most skilled builders of hair in vain,[3] and Cyprian uses it of hair evened out on half-shorn heads.[3][7] The Itala has it in Ezekiel and the Song of Songs, and some manuscripts of the Vulgate in the First Letter of Peter, where women are told that their adornment should not be the outward dressing of the hair.[3][4] Caelius Aurelianus uses it in his medical works, and Lewis & Short also give it for false hair.[4][8]

Medieval writers kept it for the hair of the head: Aldhelm writes of hair neglected and unkempt.[9][10] Glosses also use it for a hairband.[9] It also named the cutting of hair as a rite: the pontifical of Egbert has a prayer for the capillātūra of a servant called to his first shearing,[10] Du Cange records prayers for cutting the hair and tonsuring a boy,[11] and Niermeyer gives a young man's first shave, a feast of coming of age.[12] The verse of Peter's letter was quoted in Hungarian and Polish sermons and lives of saints.[13][14]

Italian capigliatura comes from it.[7]

Timeline

  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of hair-like flaws in gems.[2][5]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of dressed hair.[3][5]
  • beginning of the 3rd century–258 AD – Cyprian uses it in a letter.[3][5]
  • 639–709 AD – Aldhelm writes of unkempt hair.[10][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (of gems) Hair-like streaks or flaws in a precious stone.[2][4][6]
  2. (Late Latin) The hair of the head; a head of hair; hairdressing, the arrangement of the hair.[4][3][15]
  3. (Late Latin) False hair, a wig.[8][1]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A hairband.[9]
  5. (Medieval Latin) The cutting of the hair; tonsure; a boy's first shave, as a feast of coming of age.[10][12][11]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  10. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
  12. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  13. ^ Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
  14. ^ Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
  15. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson