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35,981 English word records · 45,491 etymology sections in this online subset
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No exact match for “capital” in this partial English subset. That does not mean the full research corpus—or linguistic scholarship—has no record. Check the original dictionary entry ↗
INDEPENDENT SOURCE LIBRARY
More sources for this spelling
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Lewis’s Elementary Latin Dictionary
1890 American Book Company edition; pinned Perseus XML digitization
This word is outside the curated dossier collection. Here is the dictionary’s etymology, with its language and revision preserved. These claims have not yet passed *SET-U’s graph review.
English · Etymology 1
From Middle English capital , borrowed partly from Old French capital and partly from Latin capitālis ( “ of the head ” ) (in sense “head of cattle ”), from caput ( “ head ” ) ( English cap ) + -ālis ( suffix forming adjectives ) . Use in trade and finance originated in Medieval economies when a common but expensive transaction involved trading heads of cattle. The noun is from the adjective. In the fourth sense, displaced native Old English hēafodburg , equivalent to head + borough ( “ city ” ) .
Compare chattel and kith and kine ( “ all one’s possessions ” ) , which also use “cow” to mean “property”.
Doublet of cattle and chattel .
English · Etymology 2
From Middle English capitale , partly from Old French capital and partly from Late Latin capitellum ( “ capital or chapiter of a column ” ) , a form of Latin capitulum ( “ head-like object or structure; chapter ” ) (whence English capitulum , chapter , and the synonym chapiter ( “ uppermost part of a column ” ) ), from caput ( “ head ” ) + -ulum ( diminutive suffix ) . Doublet of caddie , cadel , cadet , capitellum , and caudillo .
Asturian · Etymology
Borrowed from Latin capitālis .
Catalan · Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin capitālis .
French · Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin capitālis . Doublet of cheptel .
Latin · Etymology
Substantivation of apocopated capitāle , nominative neuter singular of capitālis ( “ punishable by death; of the head ” ) . See capitis poena ( “ capital punishment ” ) and -al .
Portuguese · Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin capitālis . Doublet of cabedal and caudal .
No reviewed record in this collection contains “capital.” Absence describes this graph, not all of linguistic scholarship.
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ATTESTED / RECONSTRUCTED / BOUNDARY
HISTORICAL FORMS
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No reviewed record in this collection contains “capital.” Absence describes this graph, not all of linguistic scholarship.
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WHERE INTERPRETATION IS TESTED
CLAIMS & DISPUTES
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SCHOLARLY DISPUTES / 1
resolvedestablishedposition text
Does definite singular fienden always mean the Devil?
No. Historical religious contexts can use Fienden that way, but SO also notes definite singular in ordinary military use. Grammar alone cannot choose the referent.
No reviewed record in this collection contains “capital.” Absence describes this graph, not all of linguistic scholarship.
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FIRST USES & HISTORICAL OBJECTS
ATTESTATION WITNESSES
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No reviewed record in this collection contains “capital.” Absence describes this graph, not all of linguistic scholarship.
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