Re: [tied] "Head" words [was: Just a word about Austronesian]

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski
<piotr.gasiorowski@...> wrote:

> 26-07-03 12:37, Richard Wordingham wrote:
>
> > It could be, but I strongly suggest a connection with Sanskrit

kapa:lam

> > 'skull, pan', and thus a match with the Greek. There does seem

to be a lot

> > of irregularity in the IE matches - Latin caput but Germanic

*xaubudam (>

> > English head).
>
> I don't think <kapa:la-> should be considered a match with

<kephale:>.

> The latter, besides lacking the 'cup' semantics, derives from
> *gHebH-(e)l-ah2, evidently connected with Germanic *gebVl- (Goth.

gibila

> 'pinnacle', OHG gebal 'head') and possibly related to the 'fork,

gable'

> etymon (Gmc. *gablo:). Of course, *gHebH-&l-ah2 or *gHebH-el-ah2

would

> have yielded something like *jabHira: or *jabHara: in Sanskrit.
>
> The relationship between Lat. caput (*kap-ut-) and Gmc. *xaubVda-

is

> indeed irregular, but contamination of the latter with *xu:b-o:n-

'head

> covering' or a related word may explain the aberrant vocalism of

the

> initial syllable. <kapa:la>, with its concrete "technical" meanings
> ('cup, jar, dish, bowl' etc.) and its dialectal-looking /l/ is

hardly a

> good match even for <caput>. There's nothing to suggest 'head' as

its

> original sense.
>

... unless of course some foreigner exported pottery to them.

BTW German 'Kopf', Dutch 'kop' are cognate to 'cup' I hear
(cf. 'testa').

Torsten