head

Pronunciation

• IPA: /hed/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hed, earlier heved and hevod (1123),^[2][3] inherited from Old English hēafod,^[4][5] from Proto-Germanic *haubid.^[4] Its cognates are Old Frisian hāved, Old Saxon hōbid, Dutch hoofd, Old High German houbit (modern German Haupt), Old Norse hǫfuð and Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐌱𐌹𐌸 (haubiþ).^[2][6] Etymonline and the AHD derive it from Proto-Indo-European *kaput- (“head”), the source of Latin caput (“head”) and so of capital.^[4][7][3] The match is not exact, because the English and German words point to Germanic -au- while the Norse and Latin ones point to -a-, and Hoad and the SOED call the relation unclear.^[2][8][6] The spelling head, first recorded about 1420, kept the long vowel of the time, as in heat, after the pronunciation had shortened.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The top of the body: Old English hēafod is recorded about 725, and by about 897 it also meant a chief person, leader or ruler.^[2] It could also mean the upper end of a slope and a capital city.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The sense “source of a river” is mid-14th century and “rounded top of a plant” late 14th.^[4] Head is used of people as counted (head count) by the late 13th century and of cattle from the 1510s.^[4] The side of a coin with the portrait has been the head since the 1680s,^[4] the froth on beer since the 1540s,^[4] and a ship's toilet since 1748, from the crew's toilet in the bows.^[4] A drug user is a head, usually in compounds, from 1911.^[4] Phrases include put heads together (late 14th century),^[4] over one's head “beyond one's understanding” (1620s),^[4] and head over heels, a late-17th-century reversal of the earlier and more logical heels over head.^[9] Heads will roll (1930) translates a remark of Adolf Hitler.^[4] The verb first meant “to behead” (Old English hēafdian),^[4] then “to be at the head, lead” (about 1200) and “to turn in a direction” (about 1600),^[4] and head up “to direct” is from 1930.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English hēafod.^[2]
• c. 897 – a chief person, leader.^[2]
• 1123 – hevod.^[2]
• c. 1200 – verb, to be at the head, lead.^[4]
• late 13th century – a person, as counted.^[4]
• c. 1300 – as a measure of height.^[4]
• mid-14th century – the source of a river.^[4]
• late 14th century – put heads together.^[4]
• c. 1420 – the spelling head.^[2]
• 1510s – of cattle, counted by the head.^[4]
• 1540s – the froth on beer.^[4]
• c. 1600 – verb, to turn in a direction.^[4]
• 1680s – the obverse of a coin.^[4]
• 1748 – a ship's toilet.^[4]
• 1911 – a drug user.^[4]
• 1930 – head up, to direct, and heads will roll.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The upper or front part of the body, containing the brain, eyes, ears, nose and mouth.
2. The mind or intelligence: a good head for figures.
3. A person in charge; a leader: head of state.
4. The top or front part of something, such as the striking part of a tool.
5. A person or animal as counted: ten head of cattle.
6. The froth on top of beer.
7. The side of a coin bearing a portrait.
8. The source of a river.
9. (slang) A habitual drug user.
10. (nautical) A toilet.

Adjective

1. Chief, foremost in rank: head gardener.

Verb

1. To be in charge of; lead.
2. To be first in: headed the list.
3. To go in a particular direction: head for home.
4. To hit (a ball) with the head.
5. Of a river, to rise.

Word family

• headlike
• behead
• head off

Related words

• ahead
• knucklehead
• railhead
• capital
• heady
• headache

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press