"boss" in seven languages
Meaningboss
Spanish
/ˈxefe/
masc.borrowed · Old French chef/chief 'head, leader'
fem.: jefa
French
/ʃɛf/
masc.inherited
Le chef is the boss; a cook is a cuisinier (chef cuisinier is the head cook).
Italian
/ˈkapo/
masc.inherited
Portuguese
/ˈʃɛfi/
masc.borrowed · French chef
Romanian
/ʃef/
masc.borrowed · French chef
Catalan
/kap/
masc.inherited
The plain word for 'head' doubles as 'boss', as Italian capo does.
English
/bɔs/
other source · Dutch baas
The Latin ancestor
CAPUT‘head’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
The boss is 'the head' in all three. Italian kept CAPUT almost intact; French turned ca- into che-; Spanish imported the French word, its own inherited descendant being cabo (end, cape, corporal).
English relatives: chief, chef, capital, captain
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esMi jefe está de vacaciones.
- frMon chef est en vacances.
- itIl mio capo è in ferie.
- ptMeu chefe está de férias.
- roȘeful meu e în concediu.
- caEl meu cap és de vacances.
- enMy boss is on holiday.
The Latin family
CAPUT, CAPIT-· head
Classical CAPUT survived in Spanish, French and Italian only as the 'head' of things — cabo 'end, cape', chef 'chief', capo 'boss' — while the body part itself got new words (Spanish and Portuguese cabeza, cabeça from *CAPITIA; French tête and Italian testa from TESTA 'pot'). Romanian and Catalan never let go: cap is still the head on your shoulders. CAPITĀLE 'main property' gave the most surprising doublet: popular caudal and cheptel, English cattle and chattel, beside learned capital.
CAPUThead
escabofrchefitcapoptcaborocapcacapenchief
*CAPITIAhead (spoken Latin)
escabezaptcabeça
CAPITĀLEchief property, stock
escaudalfrcheptelptcabedalcacabalencattle
CAPITĀLEMof the head, principal (learned)
escapitalfrcapitalitcapitaleptcapitalrocapitalcacapitalencapital
CAPITULUMlittle head; heading, chapter
escapítulofrchapitreitcapitoloptcapítulorocapitolcacapítolenchapter