cape

One 'cape' comes from Middle English cape, from Old French cap ('cape, headland'), from Latin caput ('head') — the same root that gives us a jutting piece of land its name. The other 'cape,' the garment, comes from French cape, from Old Occitan capa, from Late Latin cappa ('cape').

The superhero sense grew naturally out of the garment sense, since so many caped figures in fiction wear one — and from there, even the verb 'to cape' (to defend or praise someone) picked up the image of a hero swooping in, cloak and all.

The headland sense is a doublet of capo, caput, chef, and chief, and distantly related to head and the place name Howth — all tracing back to that same Latin word for 'head.' The garment sense is a doublet of capa and cappa.