| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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Appendix I
Indo-European Roots |
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| ENTRY: | kap- |
| DEFINITION: | To grasp.
Derivatives include have, heavy, cable, captive, deceive, capsule, and chassis.
I. Basic form *kap-. 1. heddle, from Old English hefeld, thread used for weaving, heddle (a device which grasps the thread), from Germanic *haf-. 2. haft, from Old English hæft, handle, from Germanic *haftjam. 3. Form *kap-o-. have; behave, from Old English habban, to have, hold, from Germanic *habai-, *hab n. 4. heavy, from Old English hefig, heavy, from Germanic *hafigaz, “containing something,” having weight. 5. haven, from Old English hæfen, a haven, from Germanic *hafn -, perhaps “place that holds ships.” 6. hawk1, from Old English h(e)afoc, hawk, from Germanic *habukaz. 7. Latin combining form -ceps (< *kap-s), “taker” (see gwher-, man-2, per1). 8. Probably from this root is Germanic *gaf-, the source of Provençal gafar, to seize: gaff1.
II. Suffixed form *kap-yo-. 1. heave, heft, from Old English hebban, to lift, from Germanic *hafjan. 2. cable, cacciatore, caitiff, capable, capacious, capias, capstan, caption, captious, captivate, captive, captor, capture, catch, cater, chase1, cop2, copper2; accept, anticipate, catchpole, conceive, deceive, except, inception, incipient, intercept, intussusception, municipal, nuncupative, occupy, participate, perceive, precept, receive, recipe, recover, recuperate, susceptible, from Latin capere, to take, seize, catch.
III. Lengthened-grade variant form *kp-. 1a. behoof, from Old English behf, use, profit, need; b. behoove, from Old English behfian, to have need of. Both a and b from Germanic compound *bi-hf, “that which binds,” requirement, obligation (*bi-, intensive prefix; see ambhi), from *hf-. 2. copepod, from Greek kp, oar, handle. (Pokorny kap- 527.) Compare ghabh-. |
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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