Where does “a cappella” come from?
a cappella (Italian) comes from Italian cappella, from Latin cappella, from Latin -ella, from Latin -ellus, from Latin -ulus, from Proto-Italic -olos, from Proto-Italic -elos, from Proto-Indo-European -e-lós — Forms agent nouns from verbal roots.
a cappella (Italian): a cappella
Definitions
- a cappella
Ancestry of “a cappella”, step by step
a cappella traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Italian cappella
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Italian | cappella | A chapel; A choir and accompanying musicians... |
| 2 | Latin | cappella | chapel; choir |
| 3 | Latin | -ella | inflection of -ellus: ## nominative/vocative... |
| 4 | Latin | -ellus | Alternative form of -ulus; "forming masculine... |
| 5 | Latin | -ulus | Used to form a diminutive of a noun, indicating... |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | -olos | — |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | -elos | Forms desubstantival and deadjectival diminutive nouns |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -e-lós | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -lós | Forms agent nouns from verbal roots |