capitaneus

Latin

Etymology

• From caput (“head”) +‎ -āneus. Compare typologically Russian глава́ (glavá), глава́рь (glavárʹ), голова́ (golová).
• Later absorbed and merged with similar catepanus, capetanus, and other Vulgar Latin renderings of katepano, the senior rank and title of Byzantine military captains of the Catepanate of Italy, from Byzantine Greek κατεπάνω (katepánō, literally “[the one] placed at the top, or the topmost”)

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ka.pɪˈtaː.ne.ʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ka.piˈtaː.ne.us]

Adjective

capitāneus (feminine capitānea, neuter capitāneum); first/second-declension adjective

1. large, chief in size
2. capital (of letters)

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	capitāneus	capitānea	capitāneum		capitāneī	capitāneae	capitānea
genitive	capitāneī	capitāneae	capitāneī		capitāneōrum	capitāneārum	capitāneōrum
dative	capitāneō	capitāneae	capitāneō		capitāneīs
accusative	capitāneum	capitāneam	capitāneum		capitāneōs	capitāneās	capitānea
ablative	capitāneō	capitāneā	capitāneō		capitāneīs
vocative	capitānee	capitānea	capitāneum		capitāneī	capitāneae	capitānea

Descendants

• Italo-Dalmatian:
  • Italian: capitano, capitan
    • → Aromanian: cãpitan
    • → English: capitano
    • → Romanian: căpitan
  • Sicilian: capitanu
  • Venetan: capetanio, capitan
    • → Greek: καπετάνιος (kapetánios)
    • → Ottoman Turkish: كاپتان
      • Turkish: kaptan
      • → Laz: კაპტანი (ǩap̌ťani)
• Ligurian: capitan
  • → Old Galician-Portuguese: capitan, capitam
    • Galician: capitán
    • Portuguese: capitão, capitam, capitaõ (obsolete)
      • → Burmese: ကပ္ပီတန် (kappitan)
      • → Gujarati: કપ્તાન (kaptān)
      • → Japanese: カピタン (kapitan)
      • → Malay: kapitan
        • Indonesian: kapitan
        • → Hokkien: 甲必丹 (Kap-pit-tan)
• Old French: chevetaine, cheftain, chevetaigne, chevetain
  • → Middle English: cheveteyn
    • English: chieftain
    • Scots: chieftain
  • French: cheftaine, cheftain

Via capitānea f:

• Italian: capitagna

Via capitāneum n:

• Aromanian: cãpitãnj, cãpitãnjiu, cãpitinj, cãpitinjiu, cãpitunj, cãpitunjiu
• Romanian: căpătâi

Borrowings:

• → Old French: capitaine
  • Middle French: capitaine
    • French: capitaine
      • → Walloon: captinne
  • Norman: cap'taine, cap'tainne
  • → Irish: captaen
  • → Middle Dutch: capitein
    • Dutch: kapitein (see there for further descendants)
  • → Middle English: capitain
    • English: captain (see there for further descendants)
    • Scots: caiptain
  • → Middle High German: kapitān
    • German: Kapitän
    • → Old Czech: kapitán
      • Czech: kapitán
  • → Middle Low German: kaptein
    • Plautdietsch: Kapitän
    • → Danish: kaptajn
    • → Estonian: kapten
    • → Norwegian: kaptein
    • → Swedish: kapten
      • → Finnish: kapteeni
• → Old Catalan: capitani
  • → Catalan: capità
• → Old Occitan: capitani
  • → Occitan: capitani
• → Polish: kapitan
  • → Russian: капита́н (kapitán), капита́нъ (kapitán) — pre-1918 spelling
    • → Armenian: կապիտան (kapitan)
    • → Azerbaijani: kapitan
    • → Kazakh: капитан (kapitan)
    • → Ukrainian: капітан (kapitan)
    • → Yakut: капитан (kapitan)
• → Spanish: capitán
  • → English: capitan
  • → Tagalog: kapitan
  • → Ye'kwana: kajichaana
  • → English: capitan

Unsorted borrowings:

• → Arabic: قبطان (qubṭān)
• → Belarusian: капітан (kapitan)
• → Bulgarian: капитан (kapitan)
• → Crimean Tatar: kapitan
• → Georgian: კაპიტანი (ḳaṗiṭani)
• → Hebrew: קפטן (kepten)
• → Hijazi Arabic: قبطان (gubṭān)
• → Hungarian: kapitány
• → Icelandic: kapteinn
• → Latvian: kapteinis
• → Macedonian: капетан (kapetan)
• → Malayalam: കപ്പിത്താന് (kappittānŭ)
• → Maltese: kaptan
• → Persian: کاپیتان (kâpitân)
• → Scottish Gaelic: caiptean
• → Serbo-Croatian: капетан / kapetan
• → Slovak: kapitán
• → Slovene: kapetan
• → Welsh: capten
• → Yiddish: קאַפּיטאַן (kapitan)

Noun

capitāneus m (genitive capitāneī, feminine capitānea); second declension

1. captain, commander
2. governor, commandant
3. civic official, prefect
4. tribal chieftain, chief

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	capitāneus	capitāneī
genitive	capitāneī	capitāneōrum
dative	capitāneō	capitāneīs
accusative	capitāneum	capitāneōs
ablative	capitāneō	capitāneīs
vocative	capitānee	capitāneī

References

• “capitaneus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• "capitaneus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “capitaneus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.