From Latin 'capacitas' (ability to hold), from 'capax' (able to hold much) — rooted in 'how much one can take in.'
The maximum amount that something can contain or produce; the ability or power to do or understand something; an official role or position.
From Latin "capācitās" (breadth, capacity, ability to hold), from "capāx" (able to hold much, spacious, capable), genitive "capācis," from "capere" (to take, hold, seize, contain), from PIE *keh₂p- (to grasp, seize). The PIE root generated one of Latin's most extensive verb families: "capere" and its compounds — "accipere" (to accept), "concipere" (to conceive), "decipere" (to deceive, literally to catch out), "excipere" (to except), "incipere" (to begin, literally to take in hand), "percipere" (to perceive), "praecipere" (to take beforehand), and "recipere" (to recover). Each compound preserves the core notion
The electrical 'capacitor' — a device that stores electric charge — gets its name from the same Latin root. A capacitor is something that 'holds' or 'takes in' electrical energy, preserving the original physical sense of Latin 'capere' (to take, hold) in a thoroughly modern technological context.