Etymograph

English

capital

Capital comes from Middle English capital.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500capital
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1649same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500capital
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1649same form

Earliest quotation: 1649, John Milton, London: […] Matthew Simmons: “to put to death a capital offender”.

The story

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’).

Every English word from Middle English capital

Another origin of capital

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kap-‘head’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*káput‘head’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kaput‘head’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcaput‘head’uncertain
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcapitulum‘head-like object or structure’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400capital
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500capitale
  8. Englishtodaycapital

Today it means

noun Money and wealth: the means to acquire or produce goods and services, especially in a non-barter system.

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

Etymograph / Middle English capital / capital

Shirt and support for this word