English

Noun

caput ‎(plural caputs or capita)

1. (anatomy) The head.
2. (anatomy) A knob-like protuberance or capitulum.
3. The top or superior part of a thing.
4. (Britain) The council or ruling body of the University of Cambridge prior to the constitution of 1856.
   • Lamb

     Your caputs and heads of colleges.

Related terms

• caput mortuum

Catalan

Etymology

From German kaputt, from Yiddish קאַפּוט ‎(kaput, “lost, dead”).

Noun

caput m ‎(uncountable)

1. kaput

See also

• fer caput

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *kaput, from Proto-Indo-European *kauput-, *káput ‎(“head”). Cognates include German Haupt and English head.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈka.put/

Noun

caput n ‎(genitive capitis); third declension

1. head
2. (New Latin, anatomy) headlike protuberance on an organ or body part, usually bone, for instance caput ulnae
3. (New Latin, medicine) a disease; a severe swelling of the soft tissues of a newborn's scalp that develops as the baby travels through the birth canal
4. (figuratively) the vital part
5. (of a river) origin, source, head
   • 23 BCE – 13 BCE, Horace, Odes 1.1

     nunc ad aquae lene caput sacrae.

6. (figuratively) life
7. capital city
   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita libri 1.16

     ut mea Roma caput orbis terrarum sit

   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita libri 8.4

     Romam caput Latio esse

8. (poetic) leader, chief
9. (in writings) division, section, paragraph, chapter

Usage notes

Caput can be used with either a genitive or a dative in the sense of a capital city.

Inflection

Third declension neuter.

Alternative forms

• (part or division of a writing): cap., c.

Synonyms

• (in writings: division, section, paragraph, chapter): capitulum

Derived terms

Descendants

References

• caput in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• caput in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• CAPUT in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “caput”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to uncover one's head: caput aperire (opp. operire)
    
  • to bow one's head: caput demittere
    
  • to cut off a man's head: caput praecīdere
    
  • to strike one's head against the wall: caput parieti impingere
    
  • source, origin: fons et caput (vid. sect. III., note caput...)
    
  • a man's life is at stake, is in very great danger: salus, caput, vita alicuius agitur, periclitatur, in discrimine est or versatur
    
  • the main dish: caput cenae (Fin. 2. 8. 25)
    
  • to put our heads together: capita conferre (Liv. 2. 45)
    
  • a person's life is in jeopardy: caput alicuius agitur (vid. sect. V. 8)
    
  • the main point: quod caput est
    
  • (ambiguous) bare-headed: capite aperto (opp. operto)
    
  • (ambiguous) with head covered: capite obvoluto
    
  • (ambiguous) to recklessly hazard one's life: in periculum capitis, in discrimen vitae se inferre
    
  • (ambiguous) to subtract something from the capital: de capite deducere (vid. sect. XII. 1, note Notice too...) aliquid
    
  • (ambiguous) to condemn some one to death: capitis or capite damnare aliquem
    
  • (ambiguous) to repeal a death-sentence passed on a person: capitis absolvere aliquem
    
  • (ambiguous) Solon made it a capital offence to..: Solo capite sanxit, si quis... (Att. 10. 1)
    
  • (ambiguous) to suffer capital punishment: supplicio (capitis) affici
    
• caput in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• caput in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• caput in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
• “head” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).