The story
- Latin · derived fromcapistrum“halter”
- Spanish · derived fromcabestran
- Old Occitan · derived fromcabestan
- Old French · derived fromcabestan
- English todaycapstan
Borrowed into Middle English from either Old French cabestan, from Old Occitan cabestan, from cabestre (“pulley cord”) or from Spanish cabestran, both of which derive from Latin capistrum (“halter”), from capiō (“take hold of”).
Words from the same roots
Latincapistrum all →
capistrum
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.