0
When a boat or ship sinks after turning over its sides we say it capsized.
How did this word originate? The meaning seems little to do either with a cap or its size or tailoring a cap to a size or shape, etc.
EDIT1:
Cap is also related to Sanskrit Caphala for head,I could guess the first part. But addition of *size" got too distorted in usage I cannot understand how, seems to me too far fetched.
Narasimham
Posted 2017-05-23T09:31:17.867
Reputation: 384
1
Based on the The Online Etymology Dictionary:
capsize (v.)
1780 (transitive); 1792 (intransitive), a nautical word of obscure origin, perhaps (as Skeat suggests) from Spanish capuzar "to sink by the head," from cabo "head," from Latin caput (see capitulum). For sense, compare French chavirer "to capsize, upset," faire capot "capsize;" Provençal cap virar "to turn the head." Related: Capsized; capsizing.
SovereignSun
Posted 2017-05-23T09:31:17.867
Reputation: 23 612