capelo

Forms

capelo m (plural capelos)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote capelo and capello.^[2][3] Houaiss dates capello to 1344.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Medieval Latin cappellus (“head covering, hat”), written Old Galician-Portuguese capelo in the oldest texts.^[2][4][1] The Latin noun is a diminutive of Late Latin cappa (“hood; hooded cloak”), and the DCECH notes that it is found in Latin glosses of the 9th century.^[2][5][1] For the sense “cardinal's hat” Nascentes, Houaiss and Wiktionary see the influence of Italian cappello, and Aurélio gives that sense a separate entry from Italian.^[6][2][1][7] Its doublet is chapéu, which came through French.^[1]

The same Latin word is Spanish capillo, Galician capelo, Catalan capell, French chapeau and the Italian word.^[5][8] Elsewhere it became the ordinary word for “hat”; the DCECH observes that Portuguese and Spanish kept the older sense of a covering for the head.^[5]

The origin of the Late Latin word is disputed: Wiktionary favours a shortening of capitulāre, from Latin caput (“head”), while the DCECH calls it unknown and finds no Celtic support for a link with capanna (“hut”).^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Latin law texts of 1188–1230 from Portugal already list the capelo de fierro “iron helmet” among a horseman's arms, with the Romance word in the Latin.^[3] In the 13th-century cantigas d'escarnho Johan Soarez Coelho advises looking for a capelo to put over the hair, and Afonso Lopez de Baian describes a capelo de ferro “an iron helmet”, so the word had both senses, “hood” and “helmet”, from the start.^[3][10] The Crónica Geral has a sword blow on top of the capelo.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso's dictionary (1569) translates capelo with Latin cucullus “hood”.^[11] The friar's hood and the coif worn by widows and nuns are now old senses; the academic hood that doctors wear over the shoulders at ceremonies gave the senses “doctorate” and “holder of a doctorate”, and the old Caldas Aulete records tomar capelo “to take a doctor's degree”.^[2][12][13] From the cardinal's red hat comes the sense “cardinalate”.^[2][7]

Things shaped like a hood took the name: the canopy over a throne or bed, the top of a tent, the cowl of a chimney, the hood of a cobra and the part of an octopus's mantle over the viscera.^[7][14][15] In Brazil it is the head of a still, and in Portugal a dialect word for the eyelid.^[16]

Timeline

• 1188–1230 – capelo de fierro in Latin law texts.^[3]
• 13th century – capelo “hood” and “helmet” in the cantigas d'escarnho.^[3]
• 1344 – the spelling capello.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso translates it as cucullus.^[11]
• 1570 – capello in a private letter.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic) The hood of a friar's habit; a cowl.^{[2][7][18][1]}
2. (archaic) A coif or hood formerly worn by widows and nuns.^{[2][7][18][1]}
3. The short cape or murça that doctors wear over the shoulders at academic ceremonies; hence the dignity of doctor, and a holder of a doctorate.^{[2][18][13][1]}
4. The red hat of a cardinal; the dignity of cardinal.^{[2][7][18][1]}
5. (historical) A helmet.^[2][18]
6. A canopy over a throne or bed; the top of a tent.^[7][14][1]
7. (construction) The cowl at the top of a chimney that keeps out wind and rain.^[7][18]
8. (zoology) The part of an octopus's mantle that covers the viscera; the spread hood of a cobra.^[7]
9. (nautical) A turn of the cable round the bitts.^[15][14]

Word family

• encapelar
• encapelado

Related words

• capa
• capuz
• chapéu
• Medieval Latin cappellus
• Spanish capillo
• Italian cappello

Usage notes

The Indian cobra is the cobra-capelo, named after its hood.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. capelo
3. ^ a b c d e f g Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. capelo
4. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. capelo
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 833
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 95
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. capelo
8. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 827
10. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. capelo
11. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. capelo
12. ^ Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. capelo
13. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 1766
14. ^ a b c Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. capelo
15. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. capelo
16. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. capelo
17. ^ CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. capelo
18. ^ a b c d e f Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. capelo