Etymologically
Log in

capulum

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 23 October 2026 at 14:26. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

capulum n (genitive capulī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin capiō (“to take, seize”) + -ulum.[1][2][3][4] The TLL treats it together with capulus “hilt; coffin”, which it also connects with that verb.[5]

Isidore of Seville already explained the rope as named from catching, because unbroken draught animals are caught with it,[6] and Paulus' epitome of Festus likewise says the word comes from taking.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636 AD) uses it, among the gear for horses, for the rope with which untamed animals are caught.[6][7][2][3]

Semantic evolution

Gaffiot glosses it as a lasso, a cord, a lunge rein.[7] In Medieval Latin it is a rope or cable,[8][9] and a glossary renders it with the German word for “rein”.[9] Arbeo uses it of ropes.[9]

It survives in Italian cappio,[2][1] and through Old French cable it gave French câble, Middle Dutch cabel and German Kabel.[1][3] English cable, first a ship's rope, came from Old North French about 1200.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville, of a rope for catching animals.[6][3]
  • 3rd quarter of the 8th century – Arbeo uses it of ropes.[9][3]
  • c. 1200 – English borrows cable from Old North French.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A rope for catching animals, a halter or lasso.[6][7][2][4]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A cable, rope.[8][9]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A rein.[9]

Usage notes

Capulum is also a neuter form of capulus, the hilt of a sword or a coffin.[10][7][1] Two medieval homographs are rarer: capulum “opening of a cloak, collar, hood”, from cappa,[3] and capulum “wood to be cut; a payment for cutting wood”.[8][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c d Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  7. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  10. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn