capitellum Latin · revision 6671

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Varro|origins=la caput}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''capitellum''' ''n'' (genitive capitellī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a diminutive of [[caput]] “head”, with the suffix [[-ellum]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler's first source is Varro, who discusses diminutives of ''caput''.^(Köbler 2010)^(Gaffiot 2016) Lewis and Short think it was perhaps first post-classical and not used in Varro's time, since manuscripts of Pliny the Elder vary between it and [[capitulum]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant a small head or end, as in Vegetius' veterinary work, and the capital of a column, as in Isidore of Seville.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ In Medieval Latin it was the capital of a column, the head of a nail, a few verses of a psalm, a chapter hall and a castle.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(DMLBS) In Ecclesiastical Latin it was also a short lesson.^(Stelten 1995) It survives in Italian ''capitello'' and French ''chapiteau''.^(Wiktionary) Gascon ''capdet'' “chief”, from Medieval Latin ''capitellum'' “little head”, gave French ''cadet'', whence [[en|cadet]] about 1610; and Spanish ''caudillo'', borrowed into English in 1852, also comes from it.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro discusses it.^(Köbler 2010)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ * c. 400 AD – Vegetius uses it of a small head.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville uses it of a column capital.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1610 – English ''cadet'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A small head, end.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # The [[m|en|capital]] of a column.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Niermeyer 1976)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' The head of a nail; a chapter hall; a castle.^(Niermeyer 1976)

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[caput]]

+ * [[capitulum]]

+ * [[en|cadet]]

+ * [[en|caudillo]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}