Inherited from Latin captō, captāre. Phonetically, it may have resulted from the merger of more than one Latin word originally; the variant form căta is likely derived from the Vulgar Latin form *cattāre (compare Spanish and Portuguese catar, Venetan catar), but various other etymologies have been proposed for the standard form: it has been considered by some as originating from or being influenced by a root *cavitāre, from cavitum, popular form of cautum, or from *cautāre, as a verbal derivative of cautus, or from *cabtāre, as an incorrect pronunciation of captāre, on the basis of a similar transformation from Latin in cases such as presbyter > Romanian preot. Compare also Aromanian caftu, cãftari.