Etymograph

English

cattle

Cattle comes from Anglo-Norman catel ‘personal property’, from Medieval Latin capitāle, from Latin capitālis ‘of the head’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap- ‘head’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kap-1‘head’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*káput2‘head’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kaput2‘head’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcaput3‘head’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcapitālis4‘of the head’
  6. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500capitāle4
  7. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400catel4‘personal property’
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500catel4‘property’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1552cattle4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *káput
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin caput
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Latin capitalis
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English cattle
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1552, Parliament of England, An Act for the Uniformity of Common Prayer: “That then every person so offending and convict, shall…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kap-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *káput‘head’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*káputWiktionary, Latin caput‘head’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kaputWiktionary, Latin caput‘head’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcaputWiktionary, Latin capitalis‘head’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcapitālisWiktionary, English cattle‘of the head’
  6. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500capitāleWiktionary, English cattle
  7. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400catelWiktionary, English cattle‘personal property’
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500catelWiktionary, English cattle‘property’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1552cattleWiktionary, English cattle. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1552, Parliament of England, An Act for the Uniformity of Common Prayer: “That then every person so offending and convict, shall…”

The story

For the sense evolution, compare pecuniary and fee. Also compare Russian поголо́вье (pogolóvʹje, “total number of livestock”) from Russian голова́ (golová, “head”).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with cattle, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *kap- ‘head’

  • had ← hadde ← hæfde ← *habdaz ← *habjaną
  • case ← casse ← capsa ← *kapsos ← *kapjō
  • except ← excepter ← exceptus ← excipiō
  • heavy ← hevy ← hefiġ ← *habīg ← *habīgaz
  • accept ← accepten ← accepter ← acceptō ← capiō
  • receive ← receyven ← receivre ← recipere ← capiō
  • behavior ← behavoure
  • cash ← caisse ← caissa ← capsa ← capiō
  • achieve ← achieven ← achever
  • heavily ← hevely ← hefiġlīċe ← hefiġ ← *habīgaz
  • capacity ← capacite ← capacite ← capācitās
  • chase ← chacen ← chacer ← *captiāre ← captō

389 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun Domesticated animals of the species Bos taurus (cows, bulls, steers, oxen etc), and other hoofed mammals of the genus Bos.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “cattle”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *káput, Latin caput, Latin capitalis. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kap- / cattle