cāpō
Meaning
- a capon (castrated cockerel)
- usuallya rooster
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | cāpō | cāpōnēs |
| genitive | cāpōnis | cāpōnum |
| dative | cāpōnī | cāpōnibus |
| accusative | cāpōnem | cāpōnēs |
| ablative | cāpōne | cāpōnibus |
| vocative | cāpō | cāpōnēs |
Origins
Unknown. Though a connection to Proto-Slavic *skopьcь (“castrated animal; eunuch”) is attractive, there are formal problems with the derivation. The Slavic is clearly derived from *skopiti (“to castrate”), which is likely an inherited root continuing Proto-Indo-European *(s)kep- (albeit itself unclear), but such a root clearly cannot account for the Latin vocalism. The alternative Proto-Indo-European *(s)keh₂p- or *(s)kap- (“to hew, cut?; to shovel”) (compare Ancient Greek σκάπτω (skáptō, “to dig”), Lithuanian skõpti (“to cut, grave”)) is disputed on both formal and semantic grounds. Most likely of substrate origin: the same source may have also given Latin scapulae; see Ancient Greek κόπτω (kóptō) and Proto-Indo-European *kap- for further possible cognates and discussion. Alternatively, from another substrate word that also gave Latin caper (“he-goat”) if its original meaning was “castrated animal”. In both cases the semantic connection is weak, however. Less likely, potentially related to Proto-Germanic *habukaz (“hawk”), Proto-Slavic *kobь̀cь (“small bird of prey: falcon ~ sparrowhawk ~ merlin ~ buzzard”) and Albanian gabonjë (“griffon vulture, eagle, hawk”), which may be yet another substrate word or Wanderwort.
- Catalancapó
- Italiancappone
- Occitancapon
- Englishcaponfrom Old English capūn
- Frenchchaponfrom Old French chapon
- GermanKapaunfrom Old High German chappo
- Romanianclaponfrom Old High German chappo
- Portuguesecapãofrom Old Galician-Portuguese capon
- Sardiniancaboni
- Spanishcapón