κάπος
Word
Validation
No
Word-form
κεφαλή
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
kephalē
English translation (word)
head
Transliteration (Etymon)
kapos
English translation (etymon)
breath
Century
1 BC
Reference
Fr. 664
Edition
C. Theodoridis, Die Fragmente des Grammatikers Philoxenos [Sammlung griechischer und lateinischer Grammatiker (SGLG) 2. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1976]
Source
Etym. Magnum
Ref.
Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 507
Ed.
T. Gaisford, Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford, 1848
Quotation
κεφαλή· ... οἱ δὲ παρὰ τὸ κάπω, τὸ πνέω, *καπαλὴ καὶ κεφαλή, οἱονεὶ ἡ διαπνέουσα
Translation (En)
kephalē "head" […] and others derive it from *kapō "to breathe", *kapalē and kephalē, as the breathing one
Parallels
Etym. Gudianum, kappa, p. 317 (idem); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, kappa, p. 1190 (idem); Scholia in Batrachomyomachiam 192 (κεφαλή ἀπὸ τοῦ κεῖσθαι ἐν αὐτῇ τὰ φάη καὶ τὸ λάειν καὶ τὸ βλέπειν. ἢ ἀπὸ τοῦ κάπος τὸ πνεῦμα, ἀφ’ οὗ καὶ παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις κάπουτ ἡ κεφαλή· γίνεται οὖν καπαλή καὶ κατὰ παραγωγὴν καὶ τροπῇ τοῦ α εἰς ε καὶ τοῦ π εἰς φ κεφαλή)
Modern etymology
Isolated within Greek. Cognate with OHG gebal "skull", Goth. gibla "face", Toch. A śpāl "head" (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
Yes
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
Derivational etymology starting from a ghost verb *κάπω, assumed as the etymon of κάπος "breath", Hom. κάπυσσε "exhale". It implies two formal changes, of [a] into [e] and [p] into [ph]. The attribution of this etymology to Philoxenus is questionable and Theodoridis lists the fragment with the dubious ones