La Caput

1. (of human and animals) The head.
   1. (poetic) The head as the seat of the understanding.
2. (transferred sense) (of inanimate things):
   1. (in general) The head, top, summit, point, end, extremity (beginning or end).
   2. (of rivers) The origin, source, spring (head).
   3. (rare) (of rivers) The mouth, embouchure.
   4. (botany, sometimes) The root.
   5. Vine branches.
   6. (poetic) (of trees) The summit, top.
3. (literature) A man, person, or animal.
4. (figuratively):
   1. Physical life.
   2. Civil or political life.
   3. (very frequently) The first or chief person or thing; the head, leader, chief, guide, capital.
5. (writing) A division, section, paragraph, chapter.Synonym: capitulum
6. (New Latin, anatomy) A headlike protuberance on an organ or body part, usually bone.

7. (New Latin, medicine) A disease; a severe swelling of the soft tissues of a newborn's scalp that develops as the baby travels through the birth canal.

Usage notes

Caput can be used with either a genitive or a dative in the sense of a capital city.