capitaneus

Latin

Etymology

• From caput (“head”) +‎ -āneus.
• Later absorbed and merged with similar catepanus, capetanus, and other (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Vulgar Latin renderings of katepano, the senior rank and title of Byzantine military captains of the Catepanate of Italy, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Byzantine Greek κατεπάνω (katepánō, literally “[the one] placed at the top, or the topmost”)

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ka.piˈtaː.ne.us/, [käpɪˈt̪äːneʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ka.piˈta.ne.us/, [käpiˈt̪äːneus]

Adjective

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

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

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	capitāneus	capitānea	capitāneum		capitāneī	capitāneae	capitānea
Genitive	capitāneī	capitāneae	capitāneī		capitāneōrum	capitāneārum	capitāneōrum
Dative	capitāneō		capitāneō		capitāneīs
Accusative	capitāneum	capitāneam	capitāneum		capitāneōs	capitāneās	capitānea
Ablative	capitāneō	capitāneā	capitāneō		capitāneīs
Vocative	capitānee	capitānea	capitāneum		capitāneī	capitāneae	capitānea

Descendants

• Aromanian: cãpitãnj, cãpitãnjiu, cãpitan
• Catalan: capità
• English: captain, chieftain
• French: capitaine
• German: Kapitän
• Irish: captaen

• Italian: capitano, capitagna
• Old French: chevetaine, chevetaigne
• Portuguese: capitão, capitam
• Romanian: căpătâi, căpitan
• Sicilian: capitanu
• Spanish: capitán

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.

Case	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.