Is Caput a word?

Caput, a Latin word meaning literally “head” and by metonymy “top”, has been borrowed in a variety of English words, including capital, captain, and decapitate.

What is the root word for captain?

The Latin root word capit means “head.” This Latin root is the word origin of a good number of English vocabulary words, including captain and decapitate. The root word capit is easily recalled through the word capital, the “head” city of a state, such as Madison being the capital of Wisconsin.

What is the origin of the word capital?

Capital. The first known use of the word capital is in early Middle English, in which it was used as an adjective meaning “of or relating to the head.” It is derived from the Latin adjective capitalis, of the same meaning, which is based on the Latin name for “head,” caput.

Is it caput or kaput?

Kaput is a slangy loanword meaning dead, finished, or useless. Though kaput is the spelling listed in all the dictionaries we checked, the word is sometimes spelled caput.

Is the root cap Latin or Greek?

Explain that cap has a Greek and Latin meaning— “head” and “to take.” Have students sort the remaining words according to the ped and corp patterns. Explain that ped means “foot” in this sort (it can also mean “child”) and corp means “body.”

Why is it called a fine?

fine (n.) c. 1200, “termination, end; end of life,” from Old French fin “end, limit, boundary; death; fee, payment, finance, money” (10c.), from Latin finis “end” (see finish (v.)), in Medieval Latin also “payment in settlement, fine or tax.”

What does capital mean 1800s?

early 13c., “of or pertaining to the head,” from Old French capital, from Latin capitalis “of the head,” hence “capital, chief, first,” from caput (genitive capitis) “head” (from PIE root *kaput- “head”). Meaning “main, principal, chief, dominant, first in importance” is from early 15c.