garment, late Old English capa, cæppe, from Late Latin cappa "hooded cloak" (see cap, n.). The modern word and meaning ("sleeveless cloak") are a mid-16c. reborrowing from French cape, from Spanish, in reference to a Spanish style.

"promontory," late 14c., from Middle French cap "cape; head," from Latin caput "headland, head" (see capitulum). The Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa has been the Cape since 1660s. Sailors called low cloud banks that could be mistaken for landforms on the horizon Cape fly-away (1769).