capella Latin · revision 31956

+ {{homograph|1|she-goat}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=116–27 BC, Varro|origins=itc-pro *kapro-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [kaˈpɛl.la]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [kaˈpɛl.la]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''capella''' ''f'' (genitive capellae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The “she-goat” is [[af|la|caper|-la|t1=he-goat]], a diminutive,^(OLD 2012) though Wiktionary and the TLL make it the diminutive of the feminine [[m|la|capra|t=she-goat]],^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) as the grammarians Scaurus and Priscian already did.^(TLL) De Vaan traces [[m|la|caper]] to [[itc-pro|*kapro-|t=he-goat]] and thinks it more likely a loanword than an inherited word, since no single Indo-European word for “goat” can be reconstructed; it resembles [[sga|gabor|t=goat]] and related Celtic words.^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[xum|kaprum|t=he-goat]], [[grc|κάπρος|tr=kápros|t=wild boar]] and [[non|hafr|t=he-goat]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Its first example in the OLD is in Varro's book on farming, where it means a she-goat.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a she-goat or kid; the TLL notes that it is very rare in prose and frequent in the poets from Pomponius on.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL) Cicero uses it of a statue of a goat.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) It was also the name of a bright star in Auriga, the “rainy star of the Olenian goat” in Ovid.^(OLD 2012) In medieval texts it keeps the meaning she-goat, also in allegory after the goats of the Last Judgement in Matthew.^(MLW)^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro of the she-goat.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius of bearded goats.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of the star in Auriga.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A she-[[m|en|goat]], [[m|en|kid]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The star [[m|en|Capella]] in the constellation Auriga.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ {{homograph|2|cape; chapel}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=679, Merovingian diploma|origins=la cappa}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [kaˈpɛl.la]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [kaˈpɛl.la]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''capella''' ''f'' (genitive capellae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The “cape; chapel” is [[af|la|cappa|-ella|t1=cape, hooded cloak]], a Medieval Latin diminutive meaning “little cape”.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(MLW)^(Etymonline) Its sense “chapel” goes back to the cape of Saint Martin, which the Frankish kings kept as a relic: the 9th-century monk Notker explains that they called their sanctuary by its name.^(MLW)^(Du Cange 1883) Etymonline mentions a second theory, that it referred to a canopy or hood covering the altar.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler's first dated source is a Merovingian diploma of 679,^(Köbler 2010) which, like other judgements of the Frankish kings, has oaths sworn in the royal oratory on Saint Martin's cape.^(Du Cange 1883)^(MLW)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the cape of Saint Martin the word passed to the royal sanctuary that housed it and the worship held there, to the body of clerics who served it, and to a chapel in one of the king's palaces.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Du Cange 1883) Einhard uses it for the church plate and vestments of Charlemagne's chapel.^(Du Cange 1883)^(MLW) Because records were kept in the palace chapel, it also meant the royal chancery.^(Du Cange 1883)

+

+ More generally it was a chapel or oratory on a private estate, a church without full parish rights; a council of Paris in 829 complains of the small buildings “which custom calls ''capellae''”.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Du Cange 1883) Later medieval texts use it for a funeral canopy, a covered market hall, the cap of a still and the part of a buckle.^(Du Cange 1883) English took it as ''chapel'' through Old French in the early 13th century,^(Etymonline) and Church Latin also used it for a choir;^(Stelten 1995) ''a capella'' means unaccompanied.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 679 – A Merovingian diploma has oaths sworn on Saint Martin's cape.^(Köbler 2010)^(Du Cange 1883)

+ * 829 – A council of Paris of private chapels.^(Du Cange 1883)

+ * c. 830 – Einhard of the plate and vestments of Charlemagne's chapel.^(Du Cange 1883)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * early 13th century – Borrowed into English as [[m|en|chapel]] through Old French.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|cape]], hooded cloak, especially the cape of Saint Martin.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(MLW)^(Du Cange 1883)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' The royal sanctuary and its worship; the clerics serving it; its plate and vestments; the royal [[m|en|chancery]].^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Du Cange 1883)^(MLW)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|chapel]], oratory, church without full parish rights.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Du Cange 1883)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A funeral canopy; a covered market hall.^(Du Cange 1883)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' A [[m|en|choir]];^(Stelten 1995) ''a capella'', unaccompanied.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[capellanus|alt=capellānus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[caper]]

+ * [[capra]]

+ * [[cappa]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Capella'' was also a Roman cognomen, borne by an elegiac poet named by Ovid and by the grammarian Martianus Capella of the 5th century.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) The spelling ''cappella'' is common for the medieval word.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(MLW)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}