Talk:Per capita

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Please see also discussion at Per capita income --''clearcontent'' a.k.a. '''Doktor Who''' 03:29, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Plurality

per capita seems to mean 'by heads'. Why is the distribution across a plurality?

[edit] Pro capite, -NOT- per capita

I studied Latin at High School (5 years), and beside that, as I am currently living in Italy, I can ensure that per capita is a term that is never used. In Italy the proper Latin terms currently used are:

Pro capite

reddito pro capite

the latter means income for each head. --Clearcontent 00:02, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

A quick look at the Oxford English Dictionary confirms that the English usage is definitely 'per capita'. This derives from the Latin 'per' - being the accusative case of 'for' and the Latin 'caput' meaning 'head'. Thus it literally means 'per head'. An important point to consider is that the form of Latin which the English term derives from is 17th century Latin and not Latin as the Romans spoke it. Moreover modern Italian is not directly derived from Vulgate Latin, which was the language spoken by inhabitants of the western Roman Empire. See Vulgate Latin "Vulgate Latin evolved into the Romance languages in about the ninth century and it was from these dialects that modern Italian evolved". See also Italian Language "Italian was first formalised in the first years of the 14th century through the works of Dante Alighieri, who mixed southern Italian (romance) languages, especially Sicilian, with his native Tuscan in his epic poems known collectively as the Commedia". Consequentially the terms 'per capita' and 'pro capit' have entered English and Italian respectively through different routes. There are a great many Latin derived terms which are used today in modern English and that are accepted as English words in their own right. Their forms in modern English are not always direct derivatives of Vulgate Latin.

Morgan Leigh 05:47, 27 June 2006 (UTC) (Also posted to talk:Per capita income)

[edit] US per capita section

This section seems POV and non-encyclopedic to me. The points made about the rich skewing the value could be said of any averaged value, and the specific gripes about DC don't seem to be relevant. I would support deleting this section. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mbarden (talk • contribs) 23:37, 2 May 2007 (UTC).