An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Kopf
Kopf, masculine, ‘head,’ from Middle High German kopf, masculine, ‘drinking vessel, cup, pint measure, skull, head’; Old High German choph, chuph, masculine, ‘goblet’; Anglo-Saxon cuppa, English cup; Scandinavian koppr, masculine, ‘crockery in the form of cups.’ This class is one of the most difficult to explain. Haupt, English head, is certainly the real Teutonic and earlier term for Kopf, and only in Modern High German 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’; compare Old Icelandic kolla, feminine, ‘pot,’ kollr, masculine, ‘head’; Modern High German Hirnschale; Italian coppa, ‘cup,’ and Provençal cobs, ‘skull’; French tête, from Latin testa; Gothic hwaírni, ‘skull,’ allied to Anglo-Saxon hwër, ‘kettle,’ Dutch hersen-pan, ‘skull,’ Middle English herne-, brainpanne, ‘skull,’ allied to Pfanne, ‘pan’; Dutch 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 Middle Latin cuppa (Italian coppa), ‘cup,’ Latin cûpa, ‘cask.’ There are, however, cognate terms in Teutonic which induce us to proceed, not from Latin cûpa, ‘cask,’ but from a primary Teutonic word meaning ‘point, summit,’ Anglo-Saxon and Middle English copp, ‘summit, point,’ Middle English also ‘head,’ English cop (for the evolution in meaning compare Giebel, allied to Greek κεφαλή, dialectic Dach, ‘roof,’ for Kopf); Old Saxon coppod, ‘cristatus’ of serpents, is also worthy of note. The Teutonic origin of the word Kopf in its Modern High German sense is also supported by the fact that Old High German chuppha, Middle High German kupfe, feminine, ‘head-dress,’ evidently connected with Kopf, is necessary to explain some Romance cognates — Italian cuffia, French coiffe, and Middle Latin cofea, are derived from Old High German chuppha. Besides, Latin cûpa, cuppa, as a feminine is not well adapted in form to explain the Teutonic masculine, especially since koppa- (Gothic *kuppa- is certainly wanting) had already too wide a ramification in the Old Teutonic languages. But in any case, it is conceivable that the assumed genuine Teutonic word was confused at an early period with a Middle Latin and Romance term, and thus incorporated a number of foreign meanings. Compare Kuppe.