capitalis

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ka.pɪˈtaː.lɪs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ka.piˈtaː.lis]^[1]

Forms

capitālis (neuter capitāle, comparative capitālior); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from caput “head, life” with the suffix -ālis.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Plautus, of capital offences, deadly danger and mortal enemies.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In law it meant concerning life, capital, capitālis poena the death penalty, as in Livy, of crimes punishable by death or loss of civil rights, and rēs capitālis a capital case.^[2] The trēsvirī capitālēs executed sentences, as Varro notes.^[2] It meant fatal, deadly, dangerous, and of enemies mortal, implacable, as in Plautus.^[2] In Cicero, perhaps colloquially, it meant first-rate, capital.^[2] Lewis and Short note the sense “of the head” survives only in the noun capital, a priestess's headdress.^[3]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant capital, chief, first, mortal.^[5] Medieval Latin used it of dues paid for personal dependence, cēnsus capitālis.^[6] Its Late Latin neuter capitāle “property” gave Old French chatel, the source of English chattel and English cattle, and English capital came in the early 13th century.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of capital crimes and mortal enemies.^[2][4]
• 116–27 BC – Varro mentions the trēsvirī capitālēs.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of capital cases and of the first-rate.^[2][4]
• early 13th century – English capital is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (law) Capital, capitālis poena, the death penalty.^[2]
2. Deadly, fatal; dangerous.^[2]
3. Of enemies, mortal.^[2]
4. First-rate.^[2]
5. (Medieval Latin) Due for personal dependence.^[6]

Related words

• capital
• caput
• capitāle
• English capital
• English cattle
• English chattel

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com