capão

capão¹ capon, castrated animal

Pronunciation

• Brazil: /kaˈpɐ̃w̃/, [kaˈpɐ̃ʊ̯̃]^[1]
• Portugal: /kɐˈpɐ̃w̃/^[1]

Forms

capão m (plural capões)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote capon, plural capões, capoos and capõos.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

The word for the castrated cockerel is inherited from Vulgar Latin *cappō, the form with a doubled -pp- of Latin cāpō (“capon”), written Old Galician-Portuguese capon in the oldest texts.^[4][5][1] The DCECH notes that all the Romance forms except Campidanese Sardinian go back to this Vulgar Latin form with an expressive double consonant.^[6] The verb capar “to castrate” is a later formation from the noun.^[5]

The same word is Galician capón, Spanish capón, Catalan capó, French chapon and Italian cappone, and the English word capon belongs to it too.^[1][6]

The origin of the Latin word is unclear: the DHLF connects it with an Indo-European root meaning “to cut with a sharp tool”, comparing Ancient Greek κόπτω (kóptō, “to strike, cut”).^[7] Wiktionary finds a link with Proto-Slavic *skopьcь (“castrated animal, eunuch”) attractive but formally difficult, rejects the proposed root *(s)kap- on formal and semantic grounds, and thinks a substrate word more likely.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first date, 1159, is the Latinised capones of a Portuguese charter; the Romance plural capões appears in the 13th century.^[4][3] In a cantiga d'escarnho Afonso Lopez de Baian mocks a man who carries at his neck a shield on which a capon sits.^[2][8] The Cantigas de Santa Maria speak of a gift of dous capões “two capons”, and the council of Santiago forbade serving galinna nen capon “hen or capon” at weddings and christenings.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the cockerel the word spread to other castrated animals: Houaiss and the DLP name the horse and the ram, and in southern Brazil it is a castrated lamb or, in Paraná, a castrated pig.^[4][9][10] The figurative “coward, weakling” is recorded by Houaiss and Michaelis, and Schlee notes that it is shared with the Spanish of the River Plate.^[4][11][12] In Brazil it is also a name of the lookdown fish, the peixe-galo.^[4][10]

Vieira (1871) records the proverb capão de oito meses, para a mesa de reis “an eight-month capon is for the table of kings”, and, after Viterbo, the old capão afoucinhado, a capon with long, sickle-curved wings.^[13]

Timeline

• 1159 – capones in a Latin charter.^[4][3]
• 13th century – capon in the cantigas d'escarnho and capões in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2]
• 1410 – hũu par de capõos “a pair of capons” in the notarial books of Rianxo.^[3]
• 1562 – first record of capado “castrated”.^[5]
• 1871 – Vieira lists proverbs on the capon.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A capon, a cockerel castrated and fattened for the table.^[4][10][1]
2. Any castrated male animal, such as a horse or ram.^[4][9][11]
3. (southern Brazil) A castrated lamb;^[10][9] (Paraná) a castrated pig.^[10][9]
4. (figurative, derogatory) A coward, a weak or spineless man.^[4][11]
5. (Brazil, ichthyology) The lookdown fish (Selene vomer), the peixe-galo.^[4][10]

Adjective

1. Castrated, gelded.^[9][12]

Word family

• capar
• capado
• capação

capão² copse in open country

Pronunciation

• Brazil: /kaˈpɐ̃w̃/, [kaˈpɐ̃ʊ̯̃]^[1]
• Portugal: /kɐˈpɐ̃w̃/^[1]

Forms

capão m (plural capões)^[1] Variants: capuão, caapuã and capuão de mato.^[4][10]

Etymology

The word for the isolated clump of trees is borrowed from Tupi kaa'paũ, as Cunha gives the Tupi form.^[5] Houaiss quotes Nascentes's ka'a pu'ã (“round wood”), as well as a nearly identical form glossed “small wood standing alone in open country” in another Tupi dictionary.^[4] Wiktionary analyses it as Tupi ka'a (“woods”) and 'ypa'ũ (“island”), itself from 'y (“water”) and pa'ũ (“space”): an “island of woods”.^[1] Sampaio (1904) already explained it as “the island of woods in clean fields”, and Aurélio treats it as a variant of caapuã.^[14][10] The older Caldas Aulete and Figueiredo gave Tupi-Guarani forms of their time.^[15][16]

Semantic evolution

Beside the patch of trees standing in open country, the sense of all the dictionaries, the DLP and the older Caldas Aulete record a cleared wood cut for firewood, as opposed to virgin forest, and Michaelis a large clump of any plant.^[9][15][11] It is frequent in place names: speakers recorded by the TLPGP name a Capão Redondo and a Capão da Lenha.^[17]

Timeline

• 1624 – first record.^[4][5]
• 1904 – Sampaio explains the word from Tupi in his study of place names.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Brazil) A small patch of woodland standing apart from the surrounding vegetation, an “island” of trees in open country: O gado se abrigou no capão perto do rio.^{[4][10][9][1]}
2. (Brazil) A grove, a small wood.^[4][10]
3. (Brazil) A cleared wood that is cut for firewood.^[9]
4. (Brazil) A large clump of any plant.^[11]