capitol

Forms

capitol n (plural capitole)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian capitolo (“chapter”), and DEX, MDA2 and the neologism dictionaries add Latin capitulum as a second source.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} Tiktin names only the Neo-Latin word, and the DA calls it a loan from Church Latin.^[7][8] The old variant capitul is a separate loan of the Latin word.^[2][1]

The Latin word was first a diminutive of caput (“head”), a “little head”; from it came “the heading, the opening part of a text” and then “a section of a text”.^[2][9] The Italian word is a learned form of the same Latin word, recorded from 1282, and the inherited Romance descendants include French chapitre and Spanish cabildo.^[10][11][12]

Ciorănescu dates the Italian loan to the 19th century, while DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1705.^[3][2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1705, in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[2][7] The passage MDA2 cites has the form of the variant, „toate capitulurile și punturile” “all the chapters and points” that the parties promise to keep, in the sense of the articles of an agreement.^[5][8]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th century the word named the articles of a treaty as well as the divisions of a book; the DA quotes a peace between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Porte concluded “according to these chapters below”.^[8] In the 19th century the form capitol prevailed and capitul became old-fashioned;^[13][4] Russo still wrote capitul.^[13][4] The figurative senses came later: “a subject of conversation, a matter”, which CADE illustrates from Caragiale, and “a stage of a course of events”, as in a capitol nou of history or of a life.^[14][13][15]

Timeline

• 1705 – capitul in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică, the first record.^[2][7][5]
• 1925 – capitularii “the Carolingian capitularies”, from French.^[2]
• 1931 – CADE records the figurative sense “subject of conversation”.^[14]
• 1965 – subcapitol “a subdivision of a chapter”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A chapter: each of the main divisions of a book, a scientific or literary work, a law and the like.^[4][5]
2. (figurative) A part or stage of a course of events: Mutarea la oraș a deschis un capitol nou în viața lui.^[15][13]
3. (figurative) The subject of a discussion; a matter, a question.^[5][6][14]
4. A fragment, a part of something.^[5]

Word family

• subcapitol

Related words

• capitul
• cap
• Latin capitulum

Usage notes

Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 also has Capitolŭ as the name of the temple of Jupiter in Rome, rendering French Capitole; that word goes back to Latin Capitōlium, not to capitulum.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. capitol
3. ^ 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. capitol
4. ^ a b c d DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 142
5. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 290
6. ^ a b Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. capitol
7. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. capitol
8. ^ a b c 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. capitol
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1641
13. ^ a b c d Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 331
14. ^ a b c Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. capitol
15. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. capitol
16. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 1, 154