An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Kopf

by Friedrich Kluge

Kopf, m., ‘head,’ from MidHG. kopf, m., ‘drinking vessel, cup, pint measure, skull, head’; OHG. choph, chuph, m., ‘goblet’; AS. cuppa, E. cup; Scand. koppr, m., ‘crockery in the form of cups.’ This class is one of the most difficult to explain. Haupt, E. head, is certainly the real Teut. and earlier term for Kopf, and only in ModHG. has the latter finally supplanted the former. The numerous senses of the cognates further involves us in doubt, although analogies may be adduced in favour of the evolution of the notion ‘head’ from an earlier meaning ‘cup’; comp. OIc. kolla, f., ‘pot,’ kollr, m., ‘head’; ModHG. Hirnschale; Ital. coppa, ‘cup,’ and Prov. cobs, ‘skull’; Fr. tête, from Lat. testa; Goth. hwaírni, ‘skull,’ allied to AS. hwër, ‘kettle,’ Du. hersen-pan, ‘skull,’ MidE. herne-, brainpanne, ‘skull,’ allied to Pfanne, ‘pan’; Du. hersen-becken, ‘skull,’ allied to Becken, ‘basin.’ Thus in fact he ordinary assumption might be allowed to stand, according to which the entire class is based on MidLat. cuppa (Ital. coppa), ‘cup,’ Lat. cûpa, ‘cask.’ There are, however, cognate terms in Teut. which induce us to proceed, not from Lat. cûpa, ‘cask,’ but from a prim. Teut. word meaning ‘point, summit,’ AS. and MidE. copp, ‘summit, point,’ MidE. also ‘head,’ E. cop (for the evolution in meaning comp. Giebel, allied to Gr. κεφαλή, dial. Dach, ‘roof,’ for Kopf); OSax. coppod, ‘cristatus’ of serpents, is also worthy of note. The Teut. origin of the word Kopf in its ModHG. sense is also supported by the fact that OHG. chuppha, MidHG. kupfe, f., ‘head-dress,’ evidently connected with Kopf, is necessary to explain some Rom. cognates — Ital. cuffia, Fr. coiffe, and MidLat. cofea, are derived from OHG. chuppha. Besides, Lat. cûpa, cuppa, as a fem. is not well adapted in form to explain the Teut. masc., especially since koppa- (Goth. *kuppa- is certainly wanting) had already too wide a ramification in the OTeut. languages. But in any case, it is conceivable that the assumed genuine Teut. word was confused at an early period with a MidLat. and Rom. term, and thus incorporated a number of foreign meanings. Comp. Kuppe.