Re: Basque mendi 'mountain'

>As for substrate
>UEW
>'päŋe 'Kopf, Haupt' U
>Finn. pää 'Kopf, Haupt'; est. pea,pää |
>?lapp. N bagŋe -āŋ- 'the thickest part of the reindeer antler,
>by the head' |
>mord. E pe,pä, M pe 'Ende' |
>wotj. SG pum, K puŋ 'Ende, Grenze, Spitze' |
>syrj. S PO pon, Peč. pom 'Ende; Anfang, Spitze (S Peč.)' |
>wog. (WV 33) TJ päŋ, KUP päŋk, So. puŋk 'Kopf,Haupt' |
>ung. fej (Akk. fejet) ||

[fej "head"; semi-slang, colloquial "bloke; guy, fella, buddy"]

Hm, these _pum, puŋ, pon, pom, päŋ(k), puŋk_ tempt one to think
of Hungarian _koponya_ ['kopoɲÉ"] ("skull, skullcap;" extended to
"head" in colloquial speech), and whether it is some combination
of _kop-_ or _kap-_ & _pony_ [poŋ]. But perhaps it is a late
loanword (some kop/kap + a suffix). (I don't know what the
etymologists have concluded.)

>sam.
>?jur. (373) O pá- 'anfangen, beginnen';
>?jen. (Mikola: NyK 66: 282) pε?;
>twg. feai, feae 'Ende, Gipfel, Äußerstes'.
>
>Juk. punke 'Hügel'< Ur.
>
>Vgl. alt. *beŋ´i ~ *peki:
>türk. beŋ´i, alttürk. mäŋi, osm. bäjn 'Gehirn', jak. mäji 'Kopf,
>Gehirn',
>mong. heki (*φeki) 'Kopf, Anfang',

Hungarian hegy [hɛɟ] "hill(ock), Hügel" & "mountain"
(with the suffix -ság/-ség, hegység ['hɛɟʃe:g] "mountain range,
Gebirge, Gebirgskette").

>ma. feχi 'Hirn, Gehirn',
>gold. pe:je 'Stirn'.

(BTW, Hungarian "brain": agy [É"ɟ].)

George