# Kapo
## German
### Alternative forms

* Capo

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Etymology 1

Clipping of Kaporal (Upper German), from Italian caporale (“corporal”), from Italian capo, from Vulgar Latin capus, from Latin caput. There is some uncertainty about the etymology of the sense "prisoner functionary". Pfeifer connects it to the same etymology as above, however Duden claims an origin in French caporal. In favour of Pfeifer is the fact that the first concentration camp, Dachau, was in Upper German territory and many early inmates came from the workers' movement and trade unions, who could have introduced the dialectal term Kapo (“site foreman”) (construction slang). Compare also East Franconian Kapo, Rhine Franconian Kapo, Alemannic German Capo, all meaning "foreman". Although plausible, the folk-etymology which assumes a direct loan from Italian capo (“boss, chief”) suggested by occasional spellings Capo, Lagercapo and no-doubt reinforced in later times by the Italian term's dissemination in the wake of the Godfather trilogy has not been substantiated. Doublet of Korporal and (obsolete) Kapo (“military commander”).

#### Noun

Kapo m (strong, genitive Kapos, plural Kapos)
* (military slang) corporal, non-commissioned officer
    Synonym: Unteroffizier
* (Southern Germany, Austria) foreman
    Synonyms: Vorarbeiter, Polier
* (historical, prison slang) kapo, prisoner functionary (a prisoner of a Nazi concentration camp who was given food and privileges in return for supervising other prisoners doing forced labor)
    Synonyms: Funktionshäftling, Lagerkapo, Lagercapo

##### Descendants

* → Arabic: كابو
* → Armenian: կապո (kapo)
* → Breton: kapo
* → Catalan: kapo
* → Czech: kápo
* → Danish: kapo
* → Dutch: kapo
* → English: kapo
* → Persian: کاپو
* → Finnish: kapo
* → French: kapo
* → Galician: kapo
* → Hebrew: קאפו
* → Hungarian: kápó
* → Interlingua: kapo
* → Italian: kapò
* → Norwegian Bokmål: kapo
* → Polish: kapo
* → Portuguese: kapo
* → Russian: капо́ (kapó)
* → Serbo-Croatian: kapo, капо
* → Spanish: kapo
* → Swedish: kapo
* → Thai: คาโพ
* → Ukrainian: ка́по (kápo)
* → Yiddish: קאַפּאָ (kapo)

### Etymology 2

Clipping of Kantonspolizei.

#### Noun

Kapo f (genitive Kapo, no plural)
* (Switzerland) Cantonal police

##### Declension
### Etymology 3

Borrowed from Italian capo. Doublet of Korporal and Kapo (“corporal; prisoner-overseer”).

#### Noun

Kapo m (strong, genitive Kapos, no plural)
* (obsolete) leader, military commander [17th c.]
    Synonym: Oberhaupt

##### Declension
### References

* 1 2 3 Wolfgang Pfeifer, editor (1993), “Kapo”, in Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen (in German), 2nd edition, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN
* ↑ “Kapo” in Duden online
* ↑ “Die ersten Häftlinge [The First Prisoners]”, in Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte‎ (in German), (Can we date this quote?)
* ↑ Kluge, Friedrich (2001) Elmar Seebold, editor, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache (in German), 24 edition, Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 469
* ↑ “Bauleiter Polier”, in Deutscher Bauzeiger‎ (in German), 2023

### Further reading

* “Kapo” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
* “Kapo” in Duden online
* “Kapo” in Duden online