Etymograph

English

cap

Cap comes from Old English cæppe, from Proto-West Germanic *kappā, from Late Latin cappa ‘hood, cape’, from Latin caput ‘head’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcaput‘head’
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcappa‘cap, hood, cape’
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kappā‘covering, hood, mantle’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150cæppe‘cap, hood’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cappe‘cap’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1596cap

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcaput‘head’
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcappa‘cap, hood, cape’
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kappā‘covering, hood, mantle’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150cæppe‘cap, hood’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cappe‘cap’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1596cap

Earliest quotation: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Dublin: Laurence Flin: “As if one going to diſtrain upon his own…”

Linked words

through Middle English cappe

capper

Today it means

noun A close-fitting hat, either brimless or peaked.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin caput / cap

Shirt and support for this word