capitaine French · revision 17241

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1288, Renart le Nouvel|origins=la caput}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ka.pi.tɛn/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''capitaine''' ''m or f'' (plural capitaines)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French had popular and half-learned forms: ''cataigne'' (''Chanson de Roland''), ''chastain'', ''chevetain'', ''chevetaine'', ''capitain'' (1360–70) was remade on Medieval Latin.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la-lat|capitāneus|t=chief, foremost, (as a noun) military chief]], from [[m|la|caput|t=head]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|2, 255b) The Late Latin adjective first meant “initial”, of a line of text, and as a noun a military chief appears in the acts of the Council of Ephesus (431).^(TLFi) The regular Old French outcome would have been “*chatain”; the forms in “-aigne”, “-aine” reflect another treatment of the suffix [[m|la|-āneus]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) It replaced the popular “chataigne” and “chevetaigne” (whence [[en|chieftain]]).^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ The word was adapted as [[en|captain]]; [[de|Kapitän]] is used only at sea, and on land German translates it as “Hauptmann”.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In ''Renart le Nouvel'' by Jacquemart Gielée (1288) it is a military chief; the ''Chanson de Roland'' already has the form ''cataigne'' for a commander: ''Rolant le cataigne''.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In 1540 it is used for a naval commander, and in 1723 for the master of a merchant ship.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) About 1550–70 it came to mean the officer commanding a company.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007) Under the Ancien Régime the governor of a royal residence (about 1590) and the officer in charge of the hunt (''capitaine des chasses'', 1671) were also ''capitaines'', titles abolished in 1789.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The captain of a sports team is recorded in 1895.^(BHVF)^(DHLF 1992) In literary use it keeps the general sense of a great general, as in ''les grands capitaines de l'Antiquité''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1100 – ''Cataigne'', ''Chanson de Roland''.^(Littré 1873)

+ * 1288 – ''Capitaine'' “military chief”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1330–39 – ''Capitainerie''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1540 – A naval commander.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1570 – The commander of a company.^(TLFi)

+ * 1723 – The master of a merchant ship.^(TLFi)

+ * 1895 – The captain of a team.^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(military)'' A [[m|en|captain]], the officer commanding a company.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # The master of a ship: ''capitaine au long cours'', ''capitaine de port'', harbour master.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(navy)'' ''Capitaine de corvette'', ''de frégate'', ''de vaisseau'': lieutenant commander, commander, captain.^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The captain of a sports team.^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF)

+ # ''(literary)'' A great military leader: ''un grand capitaine''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''Capitaine d'industrie'': a captain of industry.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[capitainerie]]

+ * [[capitanat]]

+ * [[capiston]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[capitan]]

+ * [[chef]]

+ * [[cheftaine]]

+ * [[capital]]

+ * [[en|captain]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}