capitium

Forms

capitium n (genitive capitiī or capitī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is probably from Latin caput (“head”) + -ium,^[2][3][1] a name for garments that went over or round the head.^[4][3]

Ancient grammarians explained it otherwise: Varro derived it from capiō (“to take, hold”), because the garment “holds” the breast.^[4][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The mime writer Laberius already has the word, in a line the TLL classes under the opening of a tunic for the head.^[3][4] Varro uses it for a close garment that Roman women wore over the upper body,^[6][3] the sense the OLD gives as a kind of tunic worn by women.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Classical texts it named a women’s garment, listed by the jurist Ulpian among women’s clothes,^[3][6] and the grammarian Nonius took it as a head covering.^[3] In the Vulgate and in Jerome it is the opening at the top of a tunic through which the head passed,^[4][3][6] and Jerome also uses it for a priest’s vestment.^[4]

Medieval Latin kept the head opening and the hood,^[7][8] and extended the word to the head end of a bed, the upper part of a reliquary, the choir or east end of a church, the office of the official who kept it, a poll tax, a strip of cloth and a headland in a field.^[9][10][11] Its Romance outcomes include Italian cavezza, French chevet and Spanish cabezo.^[3][1]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro describes the capitium as a garment of Roman women and derives its name from capere.^[4][6][8]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian lists capitia among women’s clothing.^[3][6][8]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome writes that the opening of the high priest’s robe is commonly called capitium.^[3][6][8]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it for the neck opening of a robe in Exodus.^[4][3][8]
• c. 1230 – English charters use it for a headland in an open field.^[10]
• 1282 – A Paris charter equates capicium with the presbytery of the cathedral.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (apparently) A kind of tunic worn by women; a close bodice.^[2][6]
2. The opening at the top of a tunic through which the head passes.^[4][3][6]
3. A covering for the head; a hood.^[4][3][7]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A priest’s vestment put on over the head.^[4]
5. (Medieval Latin) The head end of a bed; the upper part of a reliquary.^[9][7]
6. (Medieval Latin) The choir or east end of a church; the office of its keeper.^[9][10][11]
7. (Medieval Latin) A poll tax; a piece of cloth.^[9]
8. (Medieval Latin) A headland in an open field.^[9][10]

Related words

• English chevet

Usage notes

A different word is the name of the Sicilian town Capitium, which Cicero mentions in the Verrines.^[4][6] Medieval spellings include capicium, capetium, cavetium and cavezum.^[9][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Marcus Terentius Varro, De lingua Latina (text of The Latin Library; book and paragraph numbers as there).
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ a b c d e f Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
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 c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre