Unknown. Perhaps fromcāpō(“capon, castrated cockerel”), orcapillus(“hair”), thus “shave”; alternatively from aGermanic language, as inMiddle Dutchcappen(“cut”), though the latter is itself of uncertain origin.
“capulo”, inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879)A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
"capulare", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’sGlossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
capulo inBayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1967– )Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch, Munich: C.H. Beck
Niermeyer, Jan Frederik (1976) “capulare”, inMediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus,Leiden,Boston:E. J. Brill, page139
Ernout, Alfred,Meillet, Antoine (1985) “capulo”, inDictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine: histoire des mots (in French), 4th edition, with additions and corrections ofJacques André, Paris: Klincksieck, published2001, page98
