An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Haupt

by Friedrich Kluge

Haupt, n., ‘head, chief, leader,’ from MidHG. houbet, houpt (also höubet), n., OHG. houbit, n.; the OTeut. word for ‘head,’ supplanted in the 16th cent. by Kopf in all the G. dials. (Kohl-, Krauthaupt, almost the only existing forms, are dialectal), while E. and Scand. have retained the earlier form — AS. heáfod, E. head (for *heafd), n., OIc. haufuþ, later hǫfuþ, n., Swed. hufvud, Dan. hoved, ‘head,’ Goth. haubiþ, n. Since all the Teut. dialects point to an old diphthong au in the stem, of which û in OHG. hûba, ‘hood,’ is the graded form (comp. Haube), the Aryan base must be koupot, and Lat. căput, for which *cauput might have been expected, was probably transformed by the influence of a word corresponding to AS. hafola, ‘head,’ Sans. kapâla, ‘skull,’ an assumption also supported by Lat. capillus, ‘hair (of the head).’ The MidHG. höubet (Luther Heupt), formed by mutation from OHG. houbit, is still preserved in zu Häupten, in which primit. phrase the plur. curiously represents the sing.