caput

English

Etymology

Latin, the head.

Noun

caput (plural caputs or capita)

1. (anatomy) The head.
2. (anatomy) A knob-like protuberance or capitulum.
3. The top or superior part of a thing.
4. (UK) The council or ruling body of the University of Cambridge prior to the constitution of 1856.
   • Lamb

     Your caputs and heads of colleges.

Related terms

• caput mortuum

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.

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Catalan

Etymology

From German kaputt, from Yiddish קאַפּוט (kaput, “lost, dead”).

Noun

caput m (uncountable)

1. kaput

See also

• fer caput

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Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *kauput-, *káput (“head”). Cognates include German Haupt and English head.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA: /ˈka.put/, X-SAMPA: /"ka.put/

Noun

caput (genitive capitis); n, third declension

1. head
2. (New Latin, anatomy) headlike protuberance on an organ or body part, usually bone, for instance caput ulnae
3. (New Latin, medicine) a disease; a severe swelling of the soft tissues of a newborn's scalp that develops as the baby travels through the birth canal.
4. (figuratively) The vital part
5. (of a river) origin, source, head
   • Horace, Carmina, 1:1

     nunc ad aquae lene caput sacrae.

6. (figuratively) life
7. capital city
   • Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, 1:16

     ut mea Roma caput orbis terrarum sit

   • Ovid, Ab Urbe Condita, 8:4

     Romam caput Latio esse

8. (poetic) leader, chief
9. (in writings) division, section, paragraph, chapter
10. accusative singular of caput
11. vocative singular of caput

Usage notes

Caput can be used with either a genitive or a dative in the sense of a capital city.

Inflection

Number	Singular	Plural
nominative	caput	capita
genitive	capitis	capitum
dative	capitī	capitibus
accusative	caput	capita
ablative	capite	capitibus
vocative	caput	capita

Alternative forms

• (part or division of a writing): cap., c.

Synonyms

• (in writings: division, section, paragraph, chapter): capitulum

Derived terms

anceps biceps capitālis capitastrum

capitium centiceps deinceps

prīnceps sinciput trīceps

Descendants

Aromanian: cap, capit Catalan: cap Corsican: capu Dalmatian: cup English: capita, chief (via Old French) French: chef Friulian: cjâf Italian: capo

Occitan: cap Old Portuguese: cabo Portuguese: cabo, chefe (via French) Romanian: cap, capăt Romansch: chau Sicilian: capa, capu Spanish: cabo, jefe (via French), capota

References

• caput in Charlton T. Lewis & Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1879
• “head” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).