căpețea

Forms

căpețea f (plural căpețele)^[1] Regional variants include căpițea, căpățea, căpățeală, capețală and căpețeală.^[2][3][4] Creangă has căpețala: „mai căpețala din capul unei iepe” “and the headstall off a mare's head”.^[5]

Etymology

DEX takes it as remade from căpețele, the plural of căpețel, with the suffix -ea: it is formed from Romanian căpețel + -ea.^[2][1] Ciorănescu agrees with Candrea that it is derived from that noun, as feminine purcea is from purcel.^[6]

Pușcariu, the REW and the DA derive it instead from Latin capitium, which in the Romance languages also meant “halter”: a lost Romanian *căpeț gave the diminutive, used mostly in the plural, from which the new singulars, this word and căpețeală, were made.^[5][6] DELR calls the etymology uncertain but probably this one, compares Italian capezza, and cites from Mihăescu a 10th-century plural Byzantine Greek καπιτζάλια (kapitzália) for the same object.^[3] The Latin noun is formed on caput (“head”).^[1][7] Tiktin had once formed it on the plural of cap, after the model of zăbală “bit”.^[8][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Bucharest Bible of 1688, where the word means the capital of a column: „Stâlpi 2, de coți 35 de nalți, și căpețele lor de 5 coți” “two pillars, 35 cubits high, and their capitals of 5 cubits”.^[8][4] The same Bible uses căpețea and căpețeaua in the description of Solomon's temple.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The column sense was confined to that Bible.^[4][10] The living word is the headstall of a bridle, the straps over the head, forehead and muzzle of the horse to which the bit is fastened, and by extension the whole head harness.^[2][5][3] MDA2 first finds it in Alecsandri's plays (1875), and DELR dates the harness sense to 1890.^[4][3] In Bucovina a căpețea or căpețeală is the bearing block on which the mill shaft turns.^[5][11][4] The variant căpici, with another suffix, is recorded from 1898.^[3]

Timeline

• 1688 – căpețele “capitals of columns” in the Bucharest Bible, the first record.^[8][4]
• 1875 – the headstall in Alecsandri's plays.^[4]
• 1886 – the Bucovina mill sense.^[11]
• 1890 – DELR's date for the harness sense.^[3]
• 1898 – the variant căpici.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The headstall of a bridle: the straps over the horse's head and muzzle that hold the rings of the bit;^[2][4][1] (regional) the whole head harness.^[2][4][1]
2. (Bucovina) The block on which the shaft of a mill wheel turns.^[4][5]
3. (obsolete) The capital of a column; capitel.^[4]

Word family

• căpici

Related words

• căpețel
• cap
• căpăstru

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 158
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. căpețea
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 326
5. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. căpețea
6. ^ a b Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. cap
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. căpețea
9. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. 3 Kings 7:20
10. ^ Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. căpețel
11. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. cap