chapéu

Forms

chapéu m (plural chapéus)^[1] The medieval form was chapel (13th century), with the plural chapeeos before 1499.^[2][3] From the 16th century to the 19th the usual spelling was chapeo or chapéo: Cardoso (1569), Barbosa (1611), Pereira (1697), Bluteau and Morais (1813) all head it so.^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French chapel, the older form of French chapeau, written Old Galician-Portuguese chapel in the oldest texts.^[2][9][1] Lapa calls the medieval word a Gallicism,^[3] and Vieira (1871–1874) noted that the initial ch-, not c-, shows the French origin.^[10] The final /l/ of the old form was vocalised, but it survives in chapelão, chapeleiro and chapelaria.^[9] Bluteau (1712–1728) also took it from French, which he explained, after an old Latin glossary, as containing peau (“skin”).^[7]

Houaiss notes that the Old French word is recorded about 1130 for a headdress worn by men and women.^[2] The French form comes from cappellus (“headdress”), attested before 833, a diminutive of Late Latin cappa (“hood, cape”).^[11][2][1] The same Latin word gave the inherited capelo, a doublet of this word that kept a sense nearer the Latin.^[2][12][1] Spanish chapeo is a separate borrowing from French, recorded in 1550, beside the native capillo; Italian cappello, Catalan capell and Occitan capèl continue the Latin word.^[13][12][1]

The origin of the Latin word is unknown, according to Corominas.^[14] Wiktionary mentions the theory that it is a shortened form of capitulāre, from caput (“head”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the form chapel to the 13th century.^[2] In a cantiga d'escarnho Afonso Lopez de Baian mocks a man in a chapel de ferro, que xi lhi mui mal pon “an iron hat, which suits him very badly”, and Lapa glosses chapel there as capelo, a helmet.^[3][9]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso's dictionary of 1569 renders chapeo with Latin galerus, and Barbosa (1611) adds chapéo de sol “sunshade, umbrella” (Latin umbella).^[4][5] Bluteau defines it as the brimmed head covering that men wore throughout western Europe.^[7] Morais (1813) has chapeo de sol ou de chuva for an umbrella that opens and closes, and Figueiredo (1899) the figurative sense “cardinal's dignity”.^[8][15]

Brazilian Portuguese uses chapéu alone for an umbrella or a parasol, informally for the circumflex accent, and in football for a chip over an opponent's head.^[2][16] It also names coverings shaped like a hat: the cap of a chimney, the crust that forms on fermenting must, the cap of a mushroom.^[2][17] The word passed into Swahili as chepeo and into Ladino as chapeo.^[1]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records of chapel.^[2]
• before 1499 – the plural chapeeos.^[2]
• 1544 – çhapeos in a private letter.^[18]
• 1569 – Cardoso heads the word Chapeo.^[4]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists chapéo de sol.^[5]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau derives chapèo from French chapeau.^[7]
• 1813 – Morais records chapeo de sol ou de chuva.^[8]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira heads the word chapéu.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hat, usually with a crown and a brim: um chapéu de palha.^[2][17][1]
2. Any covering or cap that protects or tops something: o chapéu da chaminé.^[2][16]
3. The layer of skins and impurities that floats on the must during fermentation.^[2][17]
4. (Brazil) An umbrella; a parasol.^[2][17][1]
5. (Brazil, informal) The circumflex accent.^[2][1]
6. (informal) A mushroom;^[2][17] (mycology) the pileus or cap of a mushroom.^[2][17]
7. (figurative) The dignity of a cardinal.^[2][17]
8. (football) A chip in which the ball is kicked over an opponent and collected behind him.^[2][1]
9. (heraldry) The crown or coronet above the mantling of a coat of arms.^[2]
10. (nautical) The flat cylindrical top of the capstan.^[2][17]
11. (music) The rounded piece closing one end of certain flutes.^[2][16]

Word family

• chapeleiro
• chapelaria
• chapelão
• chapeuzinho

Related words

• capelo
• capa
• Old French chapel
• French chapeau
• Late Latin cappa

Usage notes

Chapéu armado is the cocked hat of military and ceremonial dress, and tirar o chapéu “to take off one's hat” is a greeting.^[2][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. chapéu
3. ^ a b c 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. chapel
4. ^ a b c Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. chapeo
5. ^ a b c Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. chapeo
6. ^ Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. chapeo
7. ^ a b c d Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. chapeo
8. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 384
9. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 112
10. ^ a b Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 2, 195
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. chapeau
12. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 833
13. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. chapeo
14. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 827
15. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. chapéu
16. ^ a b c d 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. chapéu
17. ^ a b c d e f g h Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. chapéu
18. ^ 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. chapéu