cape English · revision 6158

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /keɪp/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ {{homograph|1|sleeveless garment}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1205|origins=la-lat cappa}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The garment is [[bor|frm|cape]], partly from Old Provençal [[pro|capa|t=hooded mantle]] and partly from [[es|capa|t=cloak]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998) both from Late Latin [[m|la-lat|cappa|t=hooded cloak, head covering]] (see [[cap]], a doublet).^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) The earliest English use was taken directly from Medieval Latin cappa and was not distinguished from the ecclesiastical [[cope]];^(Barnhart 1988) late Old English already had capa, cæppe, “cloak with a hood”, directly from Latin.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A cloak with a hood, or an ecclesiastical cope: about 1205 in the OED, probably before 1200 in Layamon's ''Brut'' in Barnhart.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The garment was first set apart as a sleeveless cloak, and as a Spanish style, in a thesaurus of 1565–78 and later in Cotgrave's dictionary (1611).^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) The tippet of a cloak, an extra outer piece over the shoulders, is from 1596,^(OED 1989) and a short, loose sleeveless garment of its own from 1611.^(OED 1989) Hoad dates the sleeveless cloak to the 18th century.^(Hoad 1986) ''Cape and sword'', of romantic fiction and drama, is from 1898,^(OED 1989) and cape-work, a bullfighter's work with the cape, is recorded too.^(OED 1989) In Westmorland and Yorkshire the word was also an old-fashioned children's collar.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1205 – a cloak, cope.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1565–78 – a Spanish sleeveless cloak.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1596 – the tippet of a cloak.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1611 – a short sleeveless garment.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1898 – cape and sword.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A sleeveless outer garment fastened at the throat and hanging over the shoulders, like a short [[cloak]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A piece of material fixed to a coat so as to fall loosely from the shoulders.^(Collins 2023)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[caped]]

+ * [[capelet]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|headland}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1386|origins=la caput}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The headland is [[bor|frm|cap|t=cape, head]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline) from Old Provençal [[m|pro|cap|t=head]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(Hoad 1986) from [[la|caput|t=head]] (see [[head]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from PIE [[ine-pro|*kauput-|t=head]].^(Etymonline) Barnhart notes that several languages use their word for head for a headland, such as Danish hoved and Welsh and Cornish pen.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A piece of land jutting into the sea: about 1386, in the General Prologue to Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''The Cape'', for the [[Cape of Good Hope]] at the southern tip of Africa, is from the 1660s.^(Etymonline) Old sailors called low cloud banks that could be mistaken for land on the horizon Cape fly-away (1769).^(Etymonline) A short-lived nautical verb, to cape, meant of a ship to head or bear, perhaps from French cap, the head of a ship.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1386 – a headland, in Chaucer.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1660s – the Cape of Good Hope.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1769 – Cape fly-away.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A point or head of land jutting out into a body of water; a [[headland]] or [[promontory]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(the Cape)'' The [[Cape of Good Hope]], or the Cape Province of South Africa.^(SOED 2002)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[Cape Cod]]

+ * [[Cape Horn]]

+ * [[Cape Town]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cap]]

+ * [[cope]]

+ * [[chapel]]

+ * [[capo]]

+ * [[chief]]

+ * [[head]]

+ * [[escape]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}