κάπος

Validation

No

Last modification

Mon, 10/24/2022 - 14:00

Word-form

κεφαλή

Transliteration (Word)

kephalē

English translation (word)

head

Transliteration (Etymon)

kapos

English translation (etymon)

breath

Author

Philoxenus?

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

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

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