head

英文词源

head

head: [OE] The word head can be traced back ultimately to Indo-European *kauput-, *kaupet-, which probably had connotations of ‘bowl’ (as in ‘skull’) as well as ‘head’, although which came first is not clear. From it was descended prehistoric Germanic *khaubutham, *khaubitham, which produced German haupt, Dutch hoofd, Swedish huvud, and English head.

A variant of the Indo-European ancestor, *kaput-, seems to have been responsible for the Latin word for ‘head’, caput (source of a wide range of English words, including capillary, capital, captain, and chief), and also for Sanskrit kapucchala- ‘hair at the back of the head’ and Danish hoved ‘head’. And a further related form, *keup-, produced English hive, Latin cūpa ‘barrel’, and medieval Latin cuppa (source of English cup and German kopf ‘head’).
=> capital, captain, chief, cup

head (n.)

Old English heafod "top of the body," also "upper end of a slope," also "chief person, leader, ruler; capital city," from Proto-Germanic *haubudam (cognates: Old Saxon hobid, Old Norse hofuð, Old Frisian haved, Middle Dutch hovet, Dutch hoofd, Old High German houbit, German Haupt, Gothic haubiþ "head"), from PIE *kaput- "head" (cognates: Sanskrit kaput-, Latin caput "head").

Modern spelling is early 15c., representing what was then a long vowel (as in heat) and remained after pronunciation shifted. Of rounded tops of plants from late 14c. Meaning "origin of a river" is mid-14c. Meaning "obverse of a coin" (the side with the portrait) is from 1680s; meaning "foam on a mug of beer" is first attested 1540s; 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 late 13c.; of cattle, etc., in this sense from 1510s. As a height measure of persons, from c. 1300. Meaning "drug addict" (usually in a compound with the preferred drug as the first element) is from 1911.

To be over (one's) head "beyond one's comprehension" is by 1620s. To give head "perform fellatio" is from 1950s. Phrase heads will roll "people will be punished" (1930) translates Adolf Hitler. Head case "eccentric or insane person" is from 1979. Head game "mental manipulation" attested by 1972.

head (v.)

"to be at the head or in the lead," c. 1200, from head (n.). Meaning "to direct the head (toward)" is from c. 1600. Related: headed, heading. The earliest use of the word as a verb meant "behead" (Old English heafdian). Verbal phrase head up "supervise, direct" is attested by 1930.

head (adj.)

"most important, principal, leading," c. 1200, from head (n.). Old English heafod was used in this sense in compounds.