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In a Word: Monkeys, Monks, and Coffee
February 10, 2022 | In a Word, Language
In a Word: Monkeys, Monks, and Coffee
What is the common thread that binds capuchin monkeys, Capuchin monks, and cappuccino?
Andy Hollandbeck
Capuchin monkeys, Capuchin monks, and cappuccino — you probably recognize that these words all come from a common etymological source, but which came first? And besides their etymology, what connects these three otherwise disparate items?
First, let’s start with the source: the Latin word cappa, meaning “head covering.” Cappa is probably derived from the word caput “head,” and yes, when you don a baseball cap, you’re drawing from the same etymological well. An augmentative of cappa — meaning it’s a word indicating a larger head covering — is capuccio, a word that might describe a hood, which is where the fun history starts.
The 16th-century Franciscan friar Matteo di Bascio thought the Franciscan order had strayed too far from the primitive, ascetic life of St. Francis of Assisi. One particular problem, he thought, was that the habits worn by Franciscans weren’t like the ones St. Francis himself had worn. He fashioned a “new” type of old habit, one made of brown cloth and with a pointy, pyramid-shaped hood — called a capuche, from the Latin capuccio. In 1528, with the pope’s approval, Matteo established the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, named for the brown, hooded habit they wore.
So the monks came first, and the other words came from them.
[...]
In a Word: Monkeys, Monks, and Coffee
What is the common thread that binds capuchin monkeys, Capuchin monks, and cappuccino?
Andy Hollandbeck
Capuchin monkeys, Capuchin monks, and cappuccino — you probably recognize that these words all come from a common etymological source, but which came first? And besides their etymology, what connects these three otherwise disparate items?
First, let’s start with the source: the Latin word cappa, meaning “head covering.” Cappa is probably derived from the word caput “head,” and yes, when you don a baseball cap, you’re drawing from the same etymological well. An augmentative of cappa — meaning it’s a word indicating a larger head covering — is capuccio, a word that might describe a hood, which is where the fun history starts.
The 16th-century Franciscan friar Matteo di Bascio thought the Franciscan order had strayed too far from the primitive, ascetic life of St. Francis of Assisi. One particular problem, he thought, was that the habits worn by Franciscans weren’t like the ones St. Francis himself had worn. He fashioned a “new” type of old habit, one made of brown cloth and with a pointy, pyramid-shaped hood — called a capuche, from the Latin capuccio. In 1528, with the pope’s approval, Matteo established the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, named for the brown, hooded habit they wore.
So the monks came first, and the other words came from them.
[...]