capus

Latin

Etymology 1

Noun

capus m (genitive capī); second declension (Late Latin, nonstandard)

1. Alternative form of caput n (“head”)
   • 6th century C.E., Circus Flaminius, Rome CIL .VI 29849a:

     roma capvs mvndi

     Rome [is] the head of the world.

Inflection

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	capus	capī
Genitive	capī	capōrum
Dative	capō	capīs
Accusative	capum	capōs
Ablative	capō	capīs
Vocative	cape	capī

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: cap
  • Romanian: cap
• Dalmatian:
  • cup
• Italo-Romance:
  • Corsican: capu
  • Italian: capo
    • → English: capo
    • →? Istriot: capo
    • → Spanish: capo
    • → Basque: kapo
  • Sicilian: capu, capa
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: cabu
• North Italian:
  • Friulian: cjâf, čhâv
  • Ladin: cë
  • Romansch: chau, tgau, cheu, tgieu, cho, tgea
  • Gallo-Italic:
    • Emilian: cò
    • Lombard: cò
  • Venetian: cao, cavo
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: cap
  • Old French: chief (see there for further descendants)
  • Old Occitan: cap
    • Occitan: cap
    • → Middle French: cap (see there for further descendants)
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Asturian: cabu
  • Galician: cabo
  • Ladino: kavo
  • Portuguese: cabo
  • Spanish: cabo
• Vulgar Latin:
  • *accapāre (see there for further descendants)

References

• Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1911) “caput”, in Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), page 130

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈkaː.pus/, [ˈkäːpʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈka.pus/, [ˈkäːpus]

Noun

cāpus m (genitive cāpī); second declension

1. Archaic form of cāpō (“capon”)

Inflection

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cāpus	cāpī
Genitive	cāpī	cāpōrum
Dative	cāpō	cāpīs
Accusative	cāpum	cāpōs
Ablative	cāpō	cāpīs
Vocative	cāpe	cāpī