Re: caput

["Björn Cedervall" <bjorn_cedervall@hotmail.com>]

>In German caput(kaput) is a total end, death, finish, etc.
Same meaning in Swedish (spelling: "kaputt" - for instance
about a machine or apparatus that no longer works).
The word occurs in many forms in European languages. The
Spanish for head is - if I remember right - cabeza
(uncertain about spelling - sure there are people here who
know Spanish). In Portuguese, it is cabeca (there should be
lower, special sign on the last "c" like you see in French
also). In France, head is tête, but somebody who is mad/crazy
is referred to as "caput".
The latin "caput" in medicine is general and not only restricted
in use to our "brain" part. The head of the femoral bone for
instance is "caput femoralis" or something like it.
It may occur in Russian also - I am not sure but have heard
the word and name "kapitsa".

Bjorn

bjorn_cedervall@hotmail.com
Depts. Medical Radiation Biology and Medical Radiation Physics,
Karolinska Institutet, Box 260,
S-171 76 Stockholm, Sweden
Ph/fax: Int + 468 343525 (Med. Radiation Physics)


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