capot French · revision 15824
17 Oct 2026, 20:58 by bogdan “New French entry (TLFi, FEW, DHLF, Bloch–Wartburg…)” current version
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+ French has two main words spelled ''capot'': the hood or bonnet, formed from ''cape'', and the card-playing term, of uncertain origin.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Grand Robert 2005)
+
+ {{homograph|1|hood, bonnet}}
+
+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=1541, chappot|origins=la-lat cappa}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: /ka.po/^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA: /ka.pɔ/^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''capot''' ''m'' (plural capots)^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ The hood is formed from [[cape]] with the diminutive suffix [[-ot]],^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873) the noun “cape” being from [[la-lat|cappa|t=hooded cloak]].^(Wiktionary)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The TLFi thinks a borrowing from [[it|cappotto|t=a kind of cloak]] unnecessary, although the FEW and Meyer-Lübke proposed it.^(TLFi)^(REW 1935)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ A sailors' manuscript of 1541 has ''chappot'' for a hatch cover;^(TLFi) accounts of the court of Navarre (1576) have ''cappot'' for a kind of cloak.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ The cloak sense, a short cape worn for example by the knights of the Holy Spirit, is obsolete except in Canada, where a ''capot'' is a hooded coat.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873) At sea it named a light covering over openings and fittings on deck (Boiste, 1819), such as the hood of a companionway.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007) From the end of the 19th century (''Petit Larousse'' 1906) it was the metal cover over an engine, now especially the bonnet of a car.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007) The word was borrowed into [[es|capó]] and [[pt|capô]].^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 1541 – ''Chappot'' “hatch cover”.^(TLFi)
+ * 1576 – ''Cappot'' “cloak”.^(TLFi)
+ * 1819 – A hatch hood, in Boiste.^(TLFi)
+ * 1906 – The bonnet of a car.^(TLFi)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # The [[m|en|bonnet]] (UK) or [[m|en|hood]] (US) of a car; any engine cover.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)
+ # ''(nautical)'' A hood or cover over a hatch or companionway.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)
+ # ''(Canada, dated)'' A hooded coat.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(TLFi)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[capote]]
+ * [[capoter]]
+ * [[décapotable]]
+
+ {{homograph|2|(at cards) without a trick}}
+
+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=derivation|attested=1585, Perrache}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: /ka.po/^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA: /ka.pɔ/^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''capot''' (invariable)^(Petit Robert 2007)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ The card term is of uncertain origin.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) Bloch and Wartburg and Littré take it as a figurative use of “capot” “cloak”, the loser being as if a cloak had been thrown over his head;^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873) Rey thinks of the western dialect verbs “caper”, “se caper” “to hide, sulk”, themselves from “cape”, but finds the link uncertain.^(DHLF 1992) The Grand Robert suggests a possible alteration of a Provençal phrase from “cap” “head”.^(Grand Robert 2005)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ ''Capot'' is listed in 1585 among card players' calls in Perrache's ''Triomphe du berlan'';^(BHVF)^(Grand Robert 2005) ''être capot'' “to have taken no trick” is found in 1619.^(BHVF)^(Petit Robert 2007)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ In 1619 ''être capot'' was already used figuratively for being at the end of one's resources.^(BHVF) The noun ''capot'', a hand in which the opponent takes no trick, is recorded by Richelet in 1680, and by 1690 the adjective also meant “humiliated, confounded”.^(BHVF)^(DHLF 1992) [[de|kaputt]] “ruined, done for” was borrowed from it in the 17th century, during the Thirty Years' War, and was later taken back into French as ''kaput'' (1718).^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 1585 – A card players' call.^(BHVF)
+ * 1619 – ''Être capot''.^(BHVF)
+ * 1652 – German ''kaputt''.^(DHLF 1992)
+ * 1680 – The noun, in Richelet.^(BHVF)
+ * 1690 – “Humiliated”.^(DHLF 1992)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Adjective===
+ # ''(cards)'' Having taken no trick: ''être capot''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)
+ # ''(dated)'' Confounded, humiliated.^(DHLF 1992)
+
+ ===Noun===
+ # ''(cards, dated)'' A hand in which one side takes every trick.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[cape]]
+ * [[chape]]
+ * [[de|kaputt]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}