# capo
## English
### Etymology 1

Shortening of capotasto, from Italian.

#### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈkæpəʊ/
* (US) IPA: /ˈkɑpəʊ/, /ˈkeɪpoʊ/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)

#### Noun

capo (plural capos)
* A movable bar placed across the fingerboard of a guitar used to raise the pitch of all strings.

##### Synonyms

* (movable bar): capotasto

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

From Italian capo (“head, chief”). Doublet of cape, caput, chef, chief, head, and Howth.

#### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈkæpəʊ/, /ˈkɑːpəʊ/
* (US) IPA: /ˈkæpoʊ/, /ˈkɑpəʊ/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)

#### Noun

capo (plural capos or capi)
* A leader in the Mafia; a caporegime.
* A leader and organizer of supporters at a sporting event, particularly association football matches.

##### Translations
#### See also

* capo di tutti capi
* capo tasto
* da capo
* da capo al fine

### Etymology 3
#### Noun

capo (plural capos)
* Alternative spelling of kapo
** 2004, Gedenkstätte Buchenwald, Buchenwald Concentration Camp, 1937-1945: A Guide to the Permanent Historical Exhibition, Wallstein Verlag, →ISBN, page 118:[…] the capo in a sub-camp in 1940. As a foreman and capo in the quarry he earned the reputation of treating Jewish […]

### Anagrams

* CoAP, copa, paco, OPAC, OPCA, Paco, Copa, acop, APCO, ACPO

## Catalan
### Verb

capo
* first-person singular present indicative of capar

## Galician
### Verb

capo
* first-person singular present indicative of capar

## Istriot
### Etymology

From Vulgar Latin capus m < Latin caput n. On account of the unlenited /-p-/, presumably borrowed via Italian capo.

### Noun

capo m
* head
** 1877, Antonio Ive, Canti popolari istriani: raccolti a Rovigno, volume 5, Ermanno Loescher, page 40:Nun o’ pioün veîsto el pioûn biel capo biondo.I haven’t seen a more beautiful blonde head.

#### Synonyms

* tiesta

## Italian
### Etymology

From Vulgar Latin capus, from Latin caput, from Proto-Italic *kaput, from Proto-Indo-European *káput. Doublet of chef.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈka.po/
* Rhymes: -apo
* Hyphenation: cà‧po
* (Rome) IPA: /käb̞o/

### Noun

capo m (plural capi)
* head
    Synonym: testa
* boss, chief, leader, master
* end (of a rope etc.)
    Synonyms: fine, estremità
* (geography) cape (especially when capitalised/capitalized in placenames)
* ply
* buddy
* (heraldry) chief

### Adjective

capo (invariable)
* head, chief, leading
    ispettore capo ― chief inspector

#### Related terms

* a capo
* appoggiacapo
* caparra
* capata
* capatina
* capezzale
* capinera
* capitare
* capitello
* capitombolo
* capo d'abbigliamento
* capo del governo
* capo di stato
* capo di vestiario
* capo-
* capocchio
* capodanno
* capogiro
* capolino
* caposaldo
* caposcala
* caposcalo
* capozzo
* daccapo
* in capo a
* rompicapo
* sottocapo
* tra capo e collo

#### Descendants

* → English: capo
* →? Istriot: capo
* → Spanish: capo
* → Basque: kapo

### Anagrams

* paco, pacò, poca

## Latin
### Alternative forms

* cāpus (archaic)
* *cappō (based on Romance descendants and Germanic borrowings)

### Etymology

Unknown. Though a connection to Proto-Slavic *skopьcь (“castrated animal; eunuch”) is attractive, there are formal problems with the derivation. The Slavic is clearly derived from *skopiti (“to castrate”), which is likely an inherited root continuing Proto-Indo-European *(s)kep- (albeit itself unclear), but such a root clearly cannot account for the Latin vocalism. The alternative Proto-Indo-European *(s)keh₂p- or *(s)kap- (“to hew, cut?; to shovel”) (compare Ancient Greek σκάπτω (skáptō, “to dig”), Lithuanian skõpti (“to cut, grave”)) is disputed on both formal and semantic grounds. Most likely of substrate origin: the same source may have also given Latin scapulae; see Ancient Greek κόπτω (kóptō) and Proto-Indo-European *kap- for further possible cognates and discussion. Alternatively, from another substrate word that also gave Latin caper (“he-goat”) if its original meaning was “castrated animal”. In both cases the semantic connection is weak, however. Less likely, potentially related to Proto-Germanic *habukaz (“hawk”), Proto-Slavic *kobь̀cь (“small bird of prey: falcon ~ sparrowhawk ~ merlin ~ buzzard”) and Albanian gabonjë (“griffon vulture, eagle, hawk”), which may be yet another substrate word or Wanderwort.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈkaː.poː/, [ˈkäːpoː]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈka.po/, [ˈkäːpo]

### Noun

cāpō m (genitive cāpōnis); third declension
* a capon (castrated cockerel)
* (in general) a rooster

#### Declension

Third-declension noun.

#### Descendants

* Catalan: capó
* Friulian: cjapon
* → Greek: καπόνι (kapóni)
* Italian: cappone
* → Middle Dutch: capoen
** Dutch: kapoen
* Occitan: capon
* → Old English: capūn
** Middle English: capoun
*** English: capon
* Old French: chapon
** Middle French: chappon
*** French: chapon
* → Old High German: chappo
** Middle High German: kappūn
*** German: Kapaun
**** → Latvian: kapauns
** → Polish: kapłon
*** → Romanian: clapon
* Old Galician-Portuguese: capon
** Galician: capón
** Portuguese: capão
* Romanian: clapon
* Sardinian: caboni
* Sicilian: capuni
* Spanish: capón
* Venetan: capón

#### See also

* pullus
* gallus

### References

* 1 2 3 De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “cāpus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 91
* ↑ Orel, Vladimir E. (1998) “gabonjë”, in Albanian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, pages 107–108

### Further reading

* “capo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* capo in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

## Portuguese
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈka.pu/
* Rhymes: -apu

### Verb

capo
* first-person singular present indicative of capar

## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈkapo/ [ˈka.po]
* Rhymes: -apo
* Syllabification: ca‧po

### Etymology 1

Borrowed from Italian capo (“head”). Related to cabo.

#### Noun

capo m (plural capos)
* gangster
* by extension, a very able person at doing something
* boss, chief

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Verb

capo
* first-person singular present indicative of capar

### Further reading

* “capo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10
* “capo”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010