An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Kappe
Kappe, f., ‘hood, cowl’; the meaning MidHG. kappe, f., upon which it is based, does not correspond very often with that of ModHG., its usual signification being ‘a garment shaped like a cloak and fitted with a cowl as a covering for the head’; hence Tarnkappe, which has first been made current in ModHG. in this century through the revival by scholars of the MidHG. tornkappe (prop. ‘the cloak that makes the wearer invisible’). OHG. chappa; AS. cœppe, ‘cloak,’ E. cap. The double sense of the MidHG. word appears in the MidLat. and Rom. cappa, ‘cloak, cap,’ on which it is based (on the prim. form câpa is based E. cope, from MidE. cope, as well as OIc. kápa, ‘cloak’). With regard to the meaning comp. ModFr. chape (cape), ‘cope, scabbard, sheath, case,’ and the derivatives chapeau, ‘hat,’ and chaperon, ‘cowl.’ The MidLat. word was adopted by the more civilised classes of Europe, passing into Slav. as well as into Rom. and Teut. The word was not borrowed, or rather not naturalised before the 8th cent., for an earlier borrowed term would have been *chapfa in OHG. and *kapfe in MidHG. — Comp. Kapelle.