caput Latin · revision 2786

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 450 BC, Twelve Tables|origins=ine-pro *káput}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈka.pʊt]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkaː.put]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''caput''' ''n'' (genitive capitis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Inscriptions have the spelling ''kaput'', and Catullus and Ovid use an ablative ''capitī''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*kaput|t=head]], [[inh|ine-pro|*káput|t=head]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Cognate with [[got|𐌷𐌰𐌿𐌱𐌹𐌸|tr=haubiþ]], [[ang|hēafod]] and [[goh|houbit]], all meaning “head”, and with [[sga|cúach|t=cup]] and [[cy|cawg|t=cup]]; de Vaan remarks that words for “cup” often come to mean “head”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) The OLD and Pokorny also compare [[sa|कपुच्छल|tr=kapúcchala-|t=hair at the back of the head]].^(OLD 2012)^(Pokorny 1959) In the compounds [[anceps]], [[biceps]] and [[praeceps]] the suffix vowel is weakened, while [[sinciput]] keeps the ''u'' of the simple word.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The Twelve Tables (c. 450 BC) use it in the phrase ''de capite civis'', of a citizen's life or civil standing,^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) and Naevius has the plain sense of the [[m|en|head]], covered in mourning.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Besides the head of a person or animal, it stood for the seat of understanding, for a person's life, and for the life or civil status forfeited by a condemned man, so that ''capitis damnare'' meant to condemn to death or exile and ''capite deminutus'' described someone stripped of civil rights.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It also meant an individual, counted “per head” (''in capita''), and the ''capite censi'' were the citizens too poor to be rated by property.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ From the body it passed to the top or end of a thing: the summit of a mountain, the head of a boil, a projecting lobe of the liver in [[m|en|divination]], the ends of a beam, the mouth or the source of a river, and the starting point of a road.^(OLD 2012) Figuratively it was the [[m|en|origin]] of anything, a ringleader (''scelerum caput'' in Plautus), the leading person of a state, the [[m|en|capital]] city, the essential point, the beginning of a speech, a heading, a clause or section of a law, and the principal of a loan as opposed to interest.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ In medieval Latin it named the opening of a text, the first day of a period (''caput ieiunii'', Ash Wednesday), the choir of a church, the capital of a province or diocese, the mother house of an abbey and a chief manse.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Köbler 2010) Neo-Latin writers used it for a coin bearing a head, the Italian ''testone''.^(Ramminger) Every Romance language keeps it, from Romanian ''cap'' to Italian ''capo'' and Old French ''chief''.^(DÉRom)^(Wiktionary) In modern anatomy ''caput'' names a head-like protuberance of an organ or bone.^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables forbid proposals ''de capite civis'' except before the greatest assembly.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it of the head.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus calls a person ''lepidum caput'' and a villain ''scelerum caput''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for the clause of a law and for the principal of a debt.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar counts the Helvetii by heads and speaks of the mouths of the Rhine.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 14–37 AD – Celsus writes of the head of a boil.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * Medieval period – ''Caput ieiunii'' is Ash Wednesday and ''caput'' the capital of a diocese.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+ * 1537 – Beatus Rhenanus counts coins called ''capita''.^(Ramminger)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|head]] of a person or animal; the head as the seat of understanding.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A person's life; the life or civil status forfeited as a penalty, hence [[m|en|capital]] punishment or the loss of civil rights.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A person, an individual, as counted per head.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # The top, [[m|en|summit]] or extremity of a thing; the head of a boil; a lobe of the liver.^(OLD 2012)

+ # The source or the mouth of a river; the starting point of a road.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # The [[m|en|origin]] or fountain-head of a thing; a ringleader.^(OLD 2012)

+ # The chief person, the capital city, the principal part; the main point.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # The beginning of a speech or word; a heading, a section or clause of a law, a [[m|en|chapter]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # The principal of a loan as opposed to interest.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' The opening of a text; the first day of a season; the choir of a church; the capital of a province or diocese; a chief manse.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+ # ''(New Latin)'' A coin bearing a head.^(Ramminger)

+ # ''(New Latin, anatomy)'' A head-like protuberance of an organ or bone.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[capitāle]]

+ * [[capitālis]]

+ * [[capitāneus]]

+ * [[capitārius]]

+ * [[capitātiō]]

+ * [[capitātus]]

+ * [[capitellum]]

+ * [[capitilavium]]

+ * [[capitō]]

+ * [[decapitō]]

+ * [[occiput]]

+ * [[quadriceps]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[capidulum]]

+ * [[capis]]

+ * [[-ceps]]

+ * [[capiō]]

+ * [[en|chief]]

+ * [[en|capital]]

+ * [[en|caput]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Capital punishment was in theory the loss of one's ''caput'', but through most of the Classical period Roman citizens went into exile instead of being executed.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}