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capillary [capillary 词源字典]: capillary: see dishevelled
[capillary etymology, capillary origin, 英语词源]
capital: capital: [13] Etymologically, capital is something that is at the top or ‘head’; it comes from Latin caput ‘head’. The various current English uses of the word reached us, however, by differing routes. The first to come was the adjective, which originally meant simply ‘of the head’ (Milton in Paradise lost wrote of the Serpent’s ‘capital bruise’, meaning the bruise to its head); this came via Old French capital from Latin capitālis, a derivative of caput.

The other senses of the adjective have derived from this: ‘capital punishment’, for instance, comes from the notion of a crime which, figuratively speaking, affects the head, or life. Its use as a noun dates from the 17th century: the immediate source of the financial sense is Italian capitale. The architectural capital ‘top of a column’ (as in ‘Corinthian capitals’) also comes from Latin caput, but in this case the intermediate form was the diminutive capitellum ‘little head’, which reached English in the 14th century via Old French capitel.
=> cattle, chapter, head
capitulate: capitulate: see chapter
dilapidate: dilapidate: [16] It is a common misconception that dilapidate means literally ‘fall apart stone by stone’, since the word comes ultimately from Latin lapis ‘stone’ (as in lapis lazuli [14], literally ‘azure stone’). But in fact Latin dīlapidāre meant ‘squander’ (a sense once current in English, but now superseded). It was a compound verb formed from the prefix dis- ‘apart’ and lapidāre ‘throw stones’, and thus originally must have meant literally ‘scatter like stones’, but its only recorded sense is the metaphorical extension ‘throw away or destroy wantonly, squander’.

The application of the word to the destruction of buildings is a piece of later etymologizing.
=> lapis lazuli
lapis lazuli: lapis lazuli: see dilapidate
rapid: rapid: [17] Like rape and rapture, rapid comes ultimately from Latin rapere ‘seize by force’. From this was derived the adjective rapidus, which originally denoted ‘carrying off by force’. The notion of ‘swiftness’ soon became incorporated into the meaning, however, and although the Latin adjective retained its original connotations of violence (it suggested ‘impetuous speed’ or ‘haste’), by the time it reached English it had simply become synonymous with ‘quick’.
=> rapture
sapient: sapient: [15] Like English taste, Latin sapere combined the notions of ‘appreciating flavour’ and ‘fine discrimination’, and hence meant both ‘taste’ and ‘be wise’. In the former sense it has given English savour and savoury, while the latter has fed through into English in its present participial form as sapient. It is also the source of Spanish saber ‘know’, which via a West African pidgin has given English the slang term savvy ‘understand’ [18], and French savoir ‘know’, as in English savoir-faire [19].
=> savour, savoury
apiarist (n.): 1816; see apiary + -ist.
apiary (n.): 1650s, from Latin apiarium "beehouse, beehive," neuter of apiarius "of bees," from apis "bee," a mystery word unrelated to any similar words in other Indo-European languages. A borrowing from Semitic has been proposed.
apical (adj.): "of or belonging to an apex," 1828, from Latin apicem, from apex (see apex) + -al (1).
apiece (adv.): 1550s, a contraction of a pece (mid-15c.), originally of coins, objects for sale, etc. (see a (2) + piece (n.)).
aping (n.): "imitation, mimicry," 1680s, verbal noun from ape (v.).
capias (n.): writ of arrest issued by a court, mid-15c., from Latin capias, literally "thou mayest take," typical first word of such a writ; properly 2nd person singular present subjunctive of capere "to catch, seize, hold" (see capable).
capiche: 1940s slang, from Italian capisci? "do you understand?" from capire "to understand," from Latin capere "seize, grasp, take" (see capable). Also spelled coppish, kabish, capeesh, etc.
capillarity (n.): 1806, from French capillarité, from Latin capillaris (see capillary).
capillary (adj.): 1650s, "of or pertaining to the hair," from Latin capillaris "of hair," from capillus "hair" (of the head); perhaps related to caput "head" (but de Vaan finds this "difficult on the formal side" and "far from compelling, since capillus is a diminutive, and would mean 'little head', which hardly amounts to 'hair'"). Borrowed earlier as capillar (14c.). Meaning "taking place in capillary vessels" is from 1809. Capillary attraction attested from 1813. As a noun, "capillary blood vessel," from 1660s.
capital (adj.): early 13c., "of or pertaining to the head," from Old French capital, from Latin capitalis "of the head," hence "capital, chief, first," from caput (genitive capitis) "head" (see capitulum). Meaning "main, principal, chief, dominant, most important" is from early 15c. in English. Capital letter for an upper case one is attested from late 14c. The modern informal sense of "excellent, first-rate" is dated from 1762 in OED (as an exclamation of approval, OED's first example is 1875), perhaps from earlier use of the word in reference to ships, "first-rate, powerful enough to be in the line of battle," attested from 1650s, fallen into disuse after 1918.

A capital crime (1520s) is one that affects the life or "head;" capital had a sense of "deadly, mortal" from late 14c. in English, a sense also found in Latin. The felt connection between "head" and "life, mortality" also existed in Old English: as in heafodgilt "deadly sin, capital offense," heafdes þolian "to forfeit life." Capital punishment was in Blackstone (1765) and classical Latin capitis poena. Capital gain is recorded from 1921. Capital goods is recorded from 1899. Related: Capitally.
capital (n.1): early 15c., "a capital letter," from capital (adj.). The meaning "capital city" is first recorded 1660s (the Old English word was heafodstol). The financial sense is from 1610s (Middle English had chief money "principal fund," mid-14c.), from Medieval Latin capitale "stock, property," noun use of neuter of capitalis "capital, chief, first." (The noun use of this adjective in classical Latin was for "a capital crime.")
[The term capital] made its first appearance in medieval Latin as an adjective capitalis (from caput, head) modifying the word pars, to designate the principal sum of a money loan. The principal part of a loan was contrasted with the "usury"--later called interest--the payment made to the lender in addition to the return of the sum lent. This usage, unknown to classical Latin, had become common by the thirteenth century and possibly had begun as early as 1100 A.D., in the first chartered towns of Europe. [Frank A. Fetter, "Reformulation of the Concepts of Capital and Income in Economics and Accounting," 1937, in "Capital, Interest, & Rent," 1977]
Also see cattle, and compare sense development of fee, pecuniary.
capital (n.2): "head of a column or pillar," late 13c., from Anglo-French capitel, Old French chapitel, or directly from Latin capitellum "little head," diminutive of caput (see capitulum).
capital letter (n.): late 14c.; see capital (adj.). So called because it is at the "head" of a sentence or word.
capitalise (v.): chiefly British English spelling of capitalize (q.v.). For suffix, see -ize.
capitalism (n.): 1854, "condition of having capital;" from capital (n.1) + -ism. Meaning "political/economic system which encourages capitalists" is recorded from 1872.
capitalist (n.): 1791, "man of money," from French capitaliste, a coinage of the Revolution and a term of reproach; see capital (n.1) + -ist. Related: Capitalistic.
capitalization (n.): 1860, "act of converting (assets) to capital," noun of action from capitalize in the financial sense. Meaning "act of writing or printing in capital letters" is recorded from 1864.
capitalize (v.): "write or print in capital letters," 1764, from capital (n.1) + -ize. Meaning "to convert (assets) to capital" is recorded from 1868. Related: Capitalized; capitalizing.
capitate (adj.): "head-shaped," 1660s, from Latin capitatus "headed," from caput "head" (see capitulum).
capitation (n.): 1610s, "counting of heads," from Late Latin capitationem (nominative capitatio), noun of action from past participle stem of a verb derived from caput "head" (see capitulum). Meaning "levying of a poll tax" is from 1640s.
Capitol (n.): "building where U.S. Congress meets," 1793 (in writings of Thomas Jefferson), from Latin Capitolium, temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill in ancient Rome. Used earlier of Virginia state houses (1699). Its use in American public architecture deliberately evokes Roman republican imagery. With reference to the Roman citadel, it is recorded in English from late 14c., via Old North French capitolie. Relationship of Capitoline to capital is likely but not certain.
capitulate (v.): 1570s, "to draw up in chapters" (i.e., under "heads"), in part a back-formation from capitulation, in part from Medieval Latin capitulatus, past participle of capitulare "to draw up in heads or chapters, arrange conditions." Often of terms of surrender, hence meaning "to yield on stipulated terms" (1680s). Related: Capitulated; capitulating.
capitulation (n.): 1530s, "an agreement," from Middle French capitulation, noun of action from capituler "agree on specified terms," from Medieval Latin capitulare "to draw up in heads or chapters, arrange conditions," from capitulum "chapter," in classical Latin "heading," literally "a little head," diminutive of caput (genitive capitis) "head" (see capitulum). Meaning narrowed by mid-17c. to "make terms of surrender."
capitulum (n.): used in various senses in English; Latin, literally "little head," diminutive of caput "head," also "leader, guide, chief person; summit; capital city; origin, source, spring," figuratively "life, physical life;" in writing "a division, paragraph;" of money, "the principal sum," from PIE *kaput- "head" (see head (n.)).
cheapie (n.): "something inexpensive," 1891, from cheap (adj.) + -ie.
decapitate (v.): 1610s, from French décapiter (14c.), from Late Latin decapitatus past participle of decapitare, from Latin de- "off" (see de-) + caput (genitive capitis) "head" (see capitulum). Related: Decapitated; decapitating.
decapitation (n.): 1640s, from French décapitation, from Medieval Latin decapitationem (nominative decapitatio), noun of action from past participle stem of Late Latin decapitare (see decapitate).
dilapidate (v.): 1560s, "to bring a building to ruin," from Latin dilapidatus, past participle of dilapidare "to squander, waste," originally "to throw stones, scatter like stones;" see dilapidation. Perhaps the English word is a back-formation from dilapidation.
dilapidated (adj.): "in ruins, broken down," 1806, past participle adjective from dilapidate.
dilapidation (n.): early 15c., from Late Latin dilapidationem (nominative dilapidatio) "a squandering," noun of action from past participle stem of Latin dilapidare "throw away, squander, waste," literally "pelt with stones" (thus "ruin, destroy") or else "scatter like stones," from dis- "asunder" (see dis-) + lapidare "throw stones at," from lapis (genitive lapidis) "stone." "Taken in Eng. in a more literal sense than was usual in Latin" [OED].
escapism (n.): 1933, American English, from escape (n.) in the mental/emotional sense + -ism.
escapist: in the figurative sense, 1930 (adj.); 1933 (n.), from escape + -ist.
gaping (adj.): "standing wide open," 1570s (implied in gapingly), present participle adjective from gape (v.).
Homo sapiens (n.): 1802, in William Turton's translation of Linnæus, coined in Modern Latin from Latin homo "man" (technically "male human," but in logical and scholastic writing "human being;" see homunculus) + sapiens, present participle of sapere "be wise" (see sapient). Used since in various Latin or pseudo-Latin combinations intended to emphasize some aspect of humanity, as in Henri Bergson's Homo faber "man the tool-maker," in "L'Evolution Créatrice" (1907). Homo as a genus of the order Primates is first recorded 1797.
landscaping (n.): by 1861; see landscape (v.).
The question, however, is, Can landscape-gardening (or short and sweet, landscaping) be taught? It, plainly, cannot. ["The Gardener's Monthly" July 1861]
Also of artists, "depiction as a landscape" (1868).
lapidary (n.): "one skilled in working with precious stones," late 14c., from Old French lapidaire (12c.), from Latin lapidarius "stonecutter," originally an adjective "of or working with stone," from lapis (genitive lapidis) "stone." Meaning "a treatise on precious stones" is late 14c. Related: Lapidarist.
lapidation (n.): "stoning to death," 1610s, from Latin lapidationem (nominative lapidatio), noun of action from past participle stem of lapidare "to throw stones at," from the stem of lapis "stone."
lapis lazuli (n.): early 15c., from Middle Latin lapis lazuli, literally "stone of azure," from Latin lapis "stone" + Medieval Latin lazuli, genitive of lazulum, from Arabic lazuward (see azure).
megapixel (n.): by 1977, from mega- + pixel.
okapi (n.): short-necked giraffe of central Africa, 1900, from the animal's name in Mbuba (Congo). Reported by English explorer Sir Harry Johnston (1858-1927).
papier-mache (n.): also papier mache, 1753, from French papier-mâché, literally "chewed paper," from Old French papier "paper" (see paper (n.)) + mâché "compressed, mashed," from past participle of mâcher, literally "to chew," from Late Latin masticare "masticate" (see mastication).
papilla (n.): plural papillae, 1690s, "nipple," from Latin papilla "nipple," diminutive of papula "swelling" (see pap (n.2)). Meaning "nipple-like protuberance" attested from 1713.
papillary (adj.): 1660s, from Latin papilla (see papilla) + -ary.