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Goby18 t1_j15zgi6 wrote

Capital city. Capitol is the building.

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nsoudulu1234 t1_j16kdsm wrote

I’ve never understood why they’re spelled differently.

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firewarner t1_j16ll61 wrote

They mean different things, like which and witch

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Isaelia t1_j16v8l7 wrote

Not exactly an analogous situation. Those are two totally separate words with unrelated etymologies that happen to be homophones in today's English. Capitol and capital are homophones with similar definitions because they have the exact same root, so it bears asking why they both exist. The word made its way into English as capital. Capitol is the name of a particular place because the Founders decided to get fancy and try to evoke the Capitoline Hill.

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Kervels t1_j1a149c wrote

Maybe the two words 'have the same root, but it is still just coincidence for them to end up so similar, and hence confusing to to people.

The word capital obviously stems from the Latin word for head (or chief), which makes perfect sense. The Capitoline Hill in Rome was however named long before the site had anything to do with being a capital. One myth says that it got its name from a human skull found in the ground when building a temple. But in the end the hill could have been named after a finger or a leg or whatever, which would have been so much easier for Americans.

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medievalmachine t1_j182ipf wrote

Well it matches Parliament, which is not a real word either.

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