Where does “capitan” come from?
capitan (Old Portuguese) comes from Ligurian capitan, from Late Latin capitanus, from Latin capitaneus, from Latin -aneus, from Latin -anus, from Latin -um, from Proto-Italic *-om, from Proto-Indo-European *-oHom.
Ancestry of “capitan”, step by step
capitan traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Ligurian capitan
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ligurian | capitan | — |
| 2 | Late Latin | capitanus | — |
| 3 | Latin | capitaneus | large, chief in size; capital; captain, commander |
| 4 | Latin | -aneus | Of or pertaining to; -aneous |
| 5 | Latin | -anus | Of or pertaining to; -ian |
| 6 | Latin | -um | nominative neuter singular of -us; accusative... |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | *-om | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | *-oHom | — |