capăt

Forms

capăt n (plural capete)^[1]

Etymology

It is a back-formation from Romanian cap (“head”): Romanian made a new singular out of its plural capete.^[2][3][4][5] Tiktin calls it a younger form of the same word.^[6] The plural continues Latin capita, the plural of caput (“head”).^[5][2] Ciorănescu compares other singulars rebuilt from plurals, such as sunet and ropot, and explains the vowel /ə/ by the labial before it, as in omăt and făt.^[2] Wiktionary also allows a direct alteration of the Latin plural.^[1][7]

The word has a counterpart in Aromanian capit “end; the wool on a sheep's head and tail”.^[3][8] DELR explains the old sense “chapter” as a calque of Slavonic глава (glava, “head; chapter”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1561, in Coresi's Tetraevanghel, at Matthew 24:31.^[3][6] MDA2 gives the 1572 copy of the Tetraevanghel, where the angels gather the elect „den capetele ceriului până în sfârșitul lor” “from one end of heaven to the other”.^[9][4] The sense there is “extremity, end”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The oldest sense is the extreme part of something, the end of a road, a village or a rope; from it came the end of a period or a state.^[4][5] The opposite end, the beginning, survives in din capăt and de la capăt “from the start”: Cantemir has buchele din capăt a prociti “to read the letters again from the start”.^[6] A leftover piece is also a capăt: un capăt de lumânare “a candle stub”.^[5][6] In Moldavia the word also names the ends of the axle of a cart.^[10][9] Old texts used it for “head, leader” and “chapter”.^[3]

Timeline

• 1561 – first record, in Coresi's Tetraevanghel.^[3][6]
• 1572 – capetele ceriului “the ends of heaven” in a copy of the Tetraevanghel.^[9][4]
• 1785 – capătul nasului “the tip of the nose” in a Fiziognomie.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The extreme part of a thing, a period, a situation or a state; edge, limit, end.^[5][1]
2. A fragment or remnant of something: un capăt de sfoară “a bit of string”.^[5]
3. (regional, Moldavia) The end of the axle of a cart.^[10][9]

Word family

• căpețel

Related words

• cap
• căpătâi
• Aromanian capit
• Latin caput

Usage notes

Many phrases use the word: a pune capăt “to put an end to”, de la capăt “from the beginning”, până la capăt “to the end”, la capătul lumii “very far away”, and a o scoate la capăt “to manage, to come through”.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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
3. ^ a b c d e f 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
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. capăt
5. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 141
6. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. capăt
7. ^ Gabinschi, Marcu (2001), Dicționar de dublete etimologice ale limbii române, 2nd ed., Chișinău: Litera, p. 72
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 245
9. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 289
10. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 100