Etymologically
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capitalis

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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]

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