capillus Latin · revision 727

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [kaˈpɪl.lʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [kaˈpil.lus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''capillus''' ''m'' (genitive capillī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) It is often derived from [[caput]] “head” as a diminutive, as by Lewis and Short and Köbler,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010) but de Vaan finds this difficult: *kaput-(s)lo- should give *capullus, and a diminutive “little head” hardly means “hair”.^(de Vaan 2008) Phonologically one would expect a stem *kap-n- or *kap-r-, for which there is no good candidate.^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary mentions a possible comparison with a Persian word for the hair of the head.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Plautus onwards,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who praises a woman as charming “from her toenail to the top of her [[m|en|hair]]”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word meant the hair of the head, used collectively in the singular, and Varro says the plural was not used in his time, but it occurs once in Cicero and often in the Augustan poets.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Unlike ''[[crinis]]'', which could mean any hair, it referred properly to the hair of the head and beard.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) It also meant a single hair, the hair or fur of animals, and the fine fibres or roots of plants.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ The plant name ''capillus Veneris'' was maidenhair fern.^(Gaffiot 2016) Its descendants include French ''cheveu'',^(Wiktionary) and the derivative ''[[capillaris]]'' gave [[en|capillary]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for the hair of the head.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero writes of carefully arranged hair.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus speaks of something softer than a rabbit's fur.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for hair-like fibres of plants.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|hair]] of the head, (plural) one's hair.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A single hair.^(OLD 2012)

+ # The hair, fur or wool of animals.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Hair-like fibres or roots of plants.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ātricapillus]]

+ * [[capillāceus]]

+ * [[capillāgō]]

+ * [[capillāmentum]]

+ * [[capillāris]]

+ * [[capillātus]]

+ * [[capillitium]]

+ * [[capillōsus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[crīnis]]

+ * [[en|capillary]]

+ * [[en|dishevelled]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}