κεφαλή

Forms

κεφᾰλή (kephalḗ) f (genitive κεφᾰλῆς); first declension^[1] Doric κεφαλά (kephalá), Aeolic κεφάλα (kephála); epic genitive and dative κεφαλῆφι (kephalêphi).^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *kʰepʰəlā́,^[1] inherited from Proto-Indo-European *gʰebʰ-l̥ (“head”), an old word for the head found also in Tocharian and Germanic.^[1][3][4][5] The reconstruction looks like an l-stem, but no base for it has been found, and the Greek ⟨α⟩ is hard to explain.^[3] IE-CoR sets up a laryngeal, *gʰebʰh₂l-, because of the Tocharian form.^[5]

Cognate with Tocharian A śpāl (“head”), Old High German gebal (“skull”), Gothic 𐌲𐌹𐌱𐌻𐌰 (gibla, “pinnacle”) and Old Norse gafl (“gable”).^[3][4] Related Greek forms are Hesychius' gloss γαβαλάν (gabalán, “brain or head”) and the Macedonian κεβλή (keblḗ).^[3][4] Sanskrit कपाल (kapā́la, “skull”) only looks similar.^[1]

Ancient grammarians proposed many fanciful derivations: from κάρφω (kárphō, “to dry up”), because the head is dry and bony, or from καλύπτω (kalúptō, “to cover”), because it protects the brain.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it for the head of a person or an animal, and also for the person or life itself, as when a man stakes his head.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

It replaced the old and irregular word for the head, κάρα (kára).^[4] Already in Homer it stood for a person's life and for the whole person, and later it meant the mind.^[2] It also named the top or end of things: the tip of an arrow, the peak of a mountain, the brim of a cup, the source of a river, and in Aristotle the summary heading of a speech.^[2][8] Its diminutive κεφάλαιον (kephálaion) came to mean the main point or sum.^[3]

In the New Testament κεφαλή is used of Christ as the “head” of the church, and of a cornerstone, the “head of the corner”.^[9][2] It was borrowed into Coptic ⲕⲉⲫⲁⲗⲏ (kephalē).^[1]

The everyday Modern Greek word is κεφάλι (kefáli), from the Hellenistic diminutive κεφάλιον (kephálion), while κεφαλή (kefalí) is learned; its sense “leader” is Hellenistic, and its sense “head” of a device is modelled on English.^[10][11] English and other languages use it in learned forms such as cephalo-.^[12][1]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for the head and, by metonymy, for a person's life.^[2][13]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses the plural for the headwaters of a river.^[2]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for the heading of a speech.^[2]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament calls Christ the head of the church.^[9]
• Modern Greek – The learned word survives beside everyday κεφάλι (kefáli).^[11][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The head of a person, god or animal.^[2][8]
2. The head as the seat of life: one's life, especially as put at risk.^[2]
3. A person, as in κατὰ κεφαλήν “per head”.^[2][8]
4. The mind.^[2]
5. The head as a measure of height: “taller by a head”.^[2][8]
6. A skull; a bulb of garlic or onion.^[2]
7. The top or end of a thing: the tip of an arrow, the peak of a mountain, the brim of a cup.^[2]
8. (plural) The source of a river.^[2]
9. The principal part: a cornerstone; a capital city; a heading or summary; a conclusion.^[2]
10. (New Testament) A head, leader, of Christ as head of the church.^[9]

Word family

• κεφάλαιον (kephálaion)
• κεφάλαιος (kephálaios)
• κεφαλαιόω (kephalaióō)
• ἀποκεφαλίζω (apokephalízō)
• ἀκέφαλος (aképhalos)
• κεφάλιον (kephálion)
• κέφαλος (képhalos)
• κεφαλαλγία (kephalalgía)
• ἐγκέφαλος (enképhalos)

Related words

• κάρα (kára)
• English cephalo-

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
5. ^ a b Heggarty, Paul, et al. (2023), Indo-European Cognate Relationships (IE-CoR), Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, https://iecor.clld.org
6. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
7. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
10. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux