Etymology
1. O.E.
heafod "top of the body," also "upper end of a slope," also "chief person, leader, ruler," from P.Gmc.
*khaubuthan (cf. O.S.
hobid, O.N.
hofuð, O.Fris.
haved, Ger.
Haupt, Goth.
haubiþ "head"), from PIE
*kauput- "head" (cf. Skt.
kaput-, L.
caput "head"), also "bowl" (as in skull). Modern spelling is c.1420, representing what was then a long vowel (as in
heat). Meaning "obverse of a coin" is from 1684; meaning "foam on a mug of beer" is first attested 1545; meaning "toilet" is from 1748, based on location of crew toilet in the bow (or
head) of a ship. Synechdochic use for "person" (as in
head count) is first attested 1535; of cattle, etc., in this sense from 1513. To
give head "perform fellatio" is from 1950s. Meaning "drug addict" (usually in a compound with the preferred drug as the first element) is from 1911. The verb
head "to shape one's course toward" (1835) was originally nautical.
Header "head-first dive or plunge" first attested 1849.
Headlight is from 1861, originally of ships and locomotives.
Headquarters is from 1647.
Headstrong "determined to have one's way" is from 1398.
Headroom "space above the head" first recorded 1851.
Headphone is 1914, with second element extracted from
telephone. Phrase
head over heels is "a curious perversion" [Weekley] of M.E.
heels over head. Phrase
heads will roll "people will be punished" (1930) translates Adolf Hitler.
2. Etymology tree
3. substratebor.?
4. Proto-Indo-European *kap-?
5. Proto-Indo-European *kap-
6. Proto-Indo-European *káput
7. Proto-Germanic *haubudą
8. Old English hēafod
9. Middle English heed
10. English head
11. From Middle English efd, had, hafd, heafd, hed, heed, hefet, heid, het, hevd, heved, hevid, hiede, hæfd, hæfedd, from Old English hēafod (“head; top; leader; origin”), from Proto-West Germanic *haubud, from Proto-Germanic *haubudą (“head”), from Proto-Indo-European *káput (“head”), from *kap- (“head; bowl, cup”).
12. The modern word comes from Old English oblique stem hēafd-; the expected Modern English outcome for hēafod would be *heaved (similar to the Middle English word). Doublet of cape, capo, caput, chef, chief, and Howth.
13. Cognates
14. Cognate with Scots heid (“head”), Yola haade, hade, heade (“head”), North Frisian Haur, hood (“head”), Saterland Frisian Haud, Hööft (“head”), West Frisian haad (“head”), Alemannic German Haupt (“head”), Dutch hoofd (“head”), German Haupt, Häupt (“head”), Vilamovian hiöet, hiöt, huöt, huø̄t (“head”), Yiddish הויפּט (hoypt, “head”), Danish hode, hoved (“head”), Elfdalian ovuð (“head”), Faroese høvd, høvur (“head”), Icelandic höfuð (“head”), Jamtish huvu (“head”), Norwegian Bokmål hode, hue (“head”), Norwegian Nynorsk haud, hauv, hove, hovu, hovud, hue, huggu, hugu, hugud, huvu, huvud (“head”), Scanian huweð (“head”), Swedish hufvud, hufwud, huve, huvud, hövve (“head”), Crimean Gothic hoef (“head”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐌱𐌹𐌳 (haubid), 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐌱𐌹𐌸 (haubiþ, “head”); also Irish and Scottish Gaelic cuach (“bowl; dome (of head)”), Welsh cawg (“basin, bowl, vessel”), Latin capud, capus, caput (“head”), Greek κεφάλι (kefáli), κεφαλή (kefalí, “head”), Central Kurdish کاپۆڵ (kapoll, “skull”), Sanskrit कपाल (kapāla, “skull; bowl”). See: Danish '
hode', Norwegian '
hode'.
Verbs referencing "head"
Norwegian, nynorsk
hedde.