capulus Latin · revision 33827

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=itc-pro *kap-i-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''capulus''' ''m'' (genitive capulī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|capiō|-ulus|t1=to take, seize]], literally “that which holds”.^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) Wiktionary explains its two senses from the suffix: taken actively it is the handle that one grips, taken passively the coffin that holds the body.^(Wiktionary) De Vaan sees the instrumental meaning of ⟨*kap-elo-⟩ in it,^(de Vaan 2008) and traces [[m|la|capiō]] to [[itc-pro|*kap-i-]], from [[ine-pro|*kh₂p-i-|t=to seize]] or a non-Indo-European ⟨*kap-i-⟩, with a cognate in [[grc|κάπτω|tr=káptō|t=to gulp down]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus has both senses: in the ''Casina'' a speaker grabs the hilt so that another will not have the sword, and in the ''Asinaria'' ''capulī decus'' “an ornament for a bier” is said of someone ripe for the grave.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As a handle it is chiefly the hilt of a sword, then the handle of other things, as Ovid has of a sceptre and a plough.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) As a coffin or bier it is in Lucretius' phrase for going to the grave, and Apuleius has coffins half decayed with rot and age.^(Lewis & Short 1879) The grammarians also give a neuter ''capulum'', and Paulus' Festus explains it as anything that holds something within it, the old word for a sarcophagus.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of a sword hilt and of a bier.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius, ''ad capulum īre'', of going to the grave.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of the handle of a sceptre and a plough.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius, of rotting coffins.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|hilt]] of a sword; the handle of other implements.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[m|en|bier]], [[m|en|coffin]]; a tomb, sarcophagus.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[capiō]]

+ * [[capulāris]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Etymonline derives English [[m|en|cable]] from a Medieval Latin ''capulum'' “lasso, halter”, also from [[capiō]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}