在1610年代，这个词的意思是“一个人的财富”，源自中世纪拉丁语 capitale，意指“资产，财产”。它是拉丁语 capitalis 的名词形式，原意为“资本，首要的，主要的”（参见 capital (adj.)）。到了1640年代，这个词开始特指“用于特定业务的财富”，后来在政治经济学中被更广泛地定义为“工业生产中可用于进一步生产的那部分产出”（1793年）。
[The term capital] made its first appearance in medieval Latin as an adjective capitalis (from caput, head) modifying the word pars, to designate the principal sum of a money loan. The principal part of a loan was contrasted with the "usury"—later called interest—the payment made to the lender in addition to the return of the sum lent. This usage, unknown to classical Latin, had become common by the thirteenth century and possibly had begun as early as 1100 A.D., in the first chartered towns of Europe. [Frank A. Fetter, "Reformulation of the Concepts of Capital and Income in Economics and Accounting," 1937, in "Capital, Interest, & Rent," 1977]
[这个词 capital] 首次出现在中世纪拉丁语中，作为形容词 capitalis（来自 caput，意为‘头’）修饰名词 pars，用来指代贷款的主要金额。贷款的主要部分与“高利贷”——后来称为利息——形成对比，后者是借款人除了偿还借款外，还需支付给贷方的额外费用。这种用法在古典拉丁语中并不存在，但到13世纪已相当普遍，可能早在公元1100年，就在欧洲最早的特许市镇中开始出现。[Frank A. Fetter, "Reformulation of the Concepts of Capital and Income in Economics and Accounting," 1937, in "Capital, Interest, & Rent," 1977]
另见 cattle，并比较 fee 和 pecuniary 的意义发展。中古英语中有 chief money，意为“主要资金”（14世纪中期）。在古典拉丁语中，这个形容词作为名词使用时，意指“死刑罪”。
