Why does the "capital" mean in capital punishment?

问题描述:

Why does the "capital" mean in capital punishment?
请问如何翻译?还有怎么回答

Capital punishment里的capital是什么意思?
capital punishment是死刑的意思,但要把capital单独拿出来问是什么意思还真不好回答.因为最初的死刑都是砍头,而capital就跟头有关,所以跟头有关的惩罚就是死刑了.