Etymologically
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capitale

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Forms

capitāle n (genitive capitālis); third declension[1] Classical Latin usually has the form capital (genitive capitālis), which the OLD heads;[2][3] capitāle is the other form of the same word.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin capitālis (“of the head; capital”), its neuter used as a noun.[2][1][4] The adjective comes from caput (“head”).[4][5] Varro explains the priestesses' headband ⟨capital⟩ as named “from the head”.[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses capital of a crime punishable by death: tam etsi capital fēcerit, “even if he has committed a capital crime”.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is a capital offence, a crime punished by death or the loss of civil rights,[2] and, in Varro and Festus, the headband that priestesses wore at sacrifices.[2][6] The form capitāle is used for the crime in Tacitus.[8]

From the head-covering came “pillow”: the Rule of Benedict lists the capitāle among the bedding of the monks,[4][6][7] and the glossaries equate it with cervīcal.[6][9] In medieval documents the word took the sense of the principal of a sum or the capital of a debt,[1][7][10] and of movable goods and livestock;[7][11] Niermeyer derives catallum “chattel; principal” from it.[12]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has capital “capital crime”.[2][7]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro: the headband of priestesses.[2][7]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses capitāle of a capital offence.[8][7]
  • 529 AD – The Rule of Benedict: a pillow.[4][7]
  • Medieval Latin – the capital of a debt; movable goods, livestock.[7][10][11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A crime punishable by death or loss of civil rights, a capital offence.[2][3]
  2. A headband worn by priestesses.[2][6]
  3. (Late Latin) A pillow, bolster.[4][1][11]
  4. (Medieval Latin) The principal of a sum; capital (money).[1][7]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A head of cattle; a chattel; the value of stolen goods.[11][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T. (1890), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: American Book Company
  9. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  10. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
  11. ^ 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
  12. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill