# Captain and equivalents in other languages (etymology)



## Perseas

Hello,

According to etymonline, "captain" has its origin in Latin "caput".
Other sources say that the meaning of the Latinized "capetanus/catepan" (<Byzantine Greek "κατεπάνω")  has merged with that of Italian "capitaneus" (<Latin "caput") and the hybridized term gave rise to English "captain" and its equivalents in other languages:


> The katepánō (Greek: κατεπάνω, lit. "[the one] placed at the top", or " the topmost") was a senior Byzantine military rank and office. The word was Latinized as capetanus/catepan, and its meaning seems to have merged with that of the Italian "capitaneus" (which derives from the Latin word "caput", meaning head). This hybridized term gave rise to the English language term captain and its equivalents in other languages (Capitan, Kapita Kapitän, El Capitán, Il Capitano, Kapudan Pasha etc.


What does katepano mean?

What's the accepted etymology nowadays? Thanks in advance.


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## Yendred

The French Wiktionary says it comes from Latin _capitaneus _(prominent, capital), itself coming from Latin _caput _(head), itself from an Indo-European similar stem.


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## berndf

Perseas said:


> Other sources say


What you cited is copy paste from an unsourced passage in Wikipedia. I can't find this anywhere else. I doubt this claim is credible.


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## Perseas

berndf said:


> What you cited is copy paste from an unsourced passage in Wikipedia. I can't find this anywhere else. I doubt this claim is credible.


I also found this one in Greek:


> [ΕΤΥΜΟΛ. Πρόκειται για αντιδάνεια λ.: ο λόγιος μσν. τ. κατεπάνω (< κατ’ ἐπάνω), δημώδης τ. κατεπάνος, «τίτλος αξιωματούχου εξουσιοδοτημένου για τη διοίκηση τών ιταλικών επαρχιών» > λατ. catepanus και με αφομοίωση catapanus > λατ. capitan(e)us, με παρετυμολογική συσχέτιση με τη λεξιλογική ομάδα της λ. caput, -itis «κεφαλή» (πρβλ. capit-alis, capit-olium) > βεν. capetanio > καπετάνιος].


καπετάνιος - Ancient Greek (LSJ)

κατεπάνω > Lat. catepanus/catapanus > Lat. capitan(e)us and then "folk etymology association" ("παρετυμολογική συσχέτιση") is involved with the lexical family of Lat. caput.


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## Penyafort

Perseas said:


> κατεπάνω > Lat. catepanus/catapanus > Lat. capitan(e)us and then "folk etymology association" ("παρετυμολογική συσχέτιση") is involved with the lexical family of Lat. caput.



But if that had been the case, I doubt we also had many other words derived from _caput _which also refer to leading people: _capo, chef, jefe, caudillo, capitost, cabecilla, chevetaine (>chieftain), _etc_._


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## Sobakus

Generally speaking it would be trivial for _catapānus_ to be hypercorrected by assimilating it to the _caput-_family of leadership words. The positive evidence for this must come from _catapānus_ and _capitān(e)us_ being used in exactly the same contexts, and from _catapānus_ being attested earlier in these contexts, which would mean assimilation of the Latin word to the Greek meaning. DuCange says right before the list of names that the use of _catapānus_ is chiefly associated with Apulia and Calabria.

Meanwhile _capitāneus_ proper is a very rare Late Latin word which seems to be attested only in relation to writing. The first use of it as a title given by DMLBS (which considers British sources) is in 1130, in a letter by the bishop of the Roman diocese of Portus, formerly of course held by the Byzantines. If DuCange's list of names reflects original sources, then the use of _catapānus_ as a title in Latin is earlier by about 3 centuries.


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## Sobakus

Also notice that OFr. _capitaine_ is a clear Medieval Latin borrowing, and _chevetaine_ with its non-deleted weak /ə/ and the intervocalic /t/ is clearly a borrowing too, but this time probably not from Medieval Latin, which perhaps didn't exist yet at the time. Words for titles travel easily, and by whatever way the Greek word reached France, it was probably initially borrowed as *_catapaine~chetepaine_, and was then hypercorrected/assimilated to OFr. _chief. _This exact situation seems to be mirrored in Medieval Latin, which isn't surprising because its epicenter was France.


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## Ben Jamin

Perseas said:


> I also found this one in Greek:
> 
> καπετάνιος - Ancient Greek (LSJ)
> 
> κατεπάνω > Lat. catepanus/catapanus > Lat. capitan(e)us and then "folk etymology association" ("παρετυμολογική συσχέτιση") is involved with the lexical family of Lat. caput.


Is this Greek etymological dictionary available on the net?


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## berndf

Ben Jamin said:


> Is this Greek etymological dictionary available on the net?


You have the link right there. I have no idea how servious that site is. It is some form of a wiki that claims to be an "wikification of LSJ" but that is not from LSJ, at least not from any edition I am aware of.


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## Perseas

The assimilation between the Latin and the Greek word (capitanus+katapanos) seems to be seen in the following source . It isn't clear though which role played each word.


> καπετανίκι(ο)ν, τό Kapitänsschiff, Kommandoschiff: Syrop 532,18 (κατεπαν. v.l.); 540,15 v.l. (ed. καπιταν.). = κατεπανίκιον Verwaltungsbezirk: NChonPar 122. TypSymb 627,4.— Kr; vgl. REW 1634 (capitanus + katapanos).


Source: Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität


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## berndf

I am still trying to decode this part:


> καπετανίκι(ο)ν, τό Kapitänsschiff, Kommandoschiff: Syrop 532,18 (κατεπαν. v.l.); 540,15 v.l. (ed. καπιταν.). = κατεπανίκιον Verwaltungsbezirk: NChonPar 122. TypSymb 627,4.— Kr; *vgl. REW 1634 (capitanus + katapanos)*.


This is the referenced entry (Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch : Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm, 1861-1936 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive):




It says nothing about_ katapanos._


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## Perseas

Maybe, "(capitanus+katapanos)" is added as a note by LBG, since it's not included in REW. In any case, it's clear that according to LBG, "καπετανίκιον"="κατεπανίκιον", Verwaltungsbezirk.

Probably, this assimilation may only concern Greek because both "katapanos" and "kapetanos/kapetanios" share almost the same meaning. As for "captain" and equivalents in other languages, the origin must be "caput".


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## berndf

Yes, that makes sense. Given that _captain _in its modern sense emerged in Romance languages in the 13th century, the Latinokratia in Greece is a more plausible timeframe than the Catepanate in Italy for such a merger.


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## apmoy70

berndf said:


> Yes, that makes sense. Given that _captain _in its modern sense emerged in Romance languages in the 13th century, the Latinokratia in Greece is a more plausible timeframe than the Catepanate in Italy for such a merger.


Curiously enough, a fact(oid) is that «καπετάνιος» /kapetáɲos/ (captain) is the skipper of the merchant ship, and Greek nautical jargon is full of Venetian/Genoese loanwords


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## Ben Jamin

berndf said:


> You have the link right there. I have no idea how servious that site is. It is some form of a wiki that claims to be an "wikification of LSJ" but that is not from LSJ, at least not from any edition I am aware of.


Thanks!


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## Abaye

(is it too off topic?)
Strangely, Hebrew hadn't borrowed captain (although it's used sometimes and understood). Instead we've borrowed Greek κυβερνήτης, pronounced in Hebrew kbarnit / kabarnit, and means captain of a ship, in modern time also of an airplane.


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## apmoy70

Abaye said:


> (is it too off topic?)
> Strangely, Hebrew hadn't borrowed captain (although it's used sometimes and understood). Instead we've borrowed Greek *κυβερνήτης*, pronounced in Hebrew kbarnit / kabarnit, and means captain of a ship, in modern time also of an airplane.


Which is the MoGr name of the warship and aircraft (air warfare and commercial) captain too (languages are unpredictable 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




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## Sobakus

Abaye said:


> (is it too off topic?)
> Strangely, Hebrew hadn't borrowed captain (although it's used sometimes and understood). Instead we've borrowed Greek κυβερνήτης, pronounced in Hebrew kbarnit / kabarnit, and means captain of a ship, in modern time also of an airplane.


This word is way older and also gave Latin _gubernātor_ "a pilot, helmsman". _captain_ originally meant "any topmost official", and its naval use was only incidental (etymonline dates the meaning "master or commander of a vessel of any kind" to 1704).


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## OBrasilo

Slovenian is curious as it has both _kapitan_ (stressed on the first syllable) and _kapetan_ (stressed on the second syllable), I guess the former is directly from Latin (or from Italian?) and the latter is from Greek.


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## Welsh_Sion

The earliest example in Cymraeg/Welsh dates from poetry of the 14th century, where it is written as _Captaen_ (more in common in Mod. Welsh as: _Capten_). GPC lists the etymology as a borrowing from English.

Again, _cadben _and _cadpen _exist from 1600, but in the erroneous assumption that these form-s are 'original' Welsh deriving from _'cad_' ('battle') and _'pen' _('head', 'chief')..

See GPC '_Capten'; 'Captaen_'. Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru


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