HEAD (in 0. Eng. heafad; the word is

See also:

• COMMON

common to

See also:

• TEUTONIC
• TEUTONIC (GERMANIC) LANGUAGES

Teutonic

See also:

• LANGUAGES

languages; cf. Dutch hoofd, Ger.

See also:

• HAUPT, MORITZ (1808—1874)

Haupt, generally taken to be in origin connected with

See also:

• LAT

Lat. caput, Gr. KerbOvi7)  , the upper portion of the body in man, consisting of the skull with its integuments and contents, &c., connected with the trunk by the neck (see ANATOMY, SKULL and BRAIN); also the anterioror fore part of other animals . The word is used in a large number of transferred and figurative senses, generally with reference to the position of the head as the uppermost part, hence the leading, chief portion of anything . HEAD-HUNTING, or HEAD-SNAPPING, as the Dutch call it, a custom once prevalent among all Malay races and surviving even to-day among the Dyaks (q.v.) of Borneo and elsewhere . Martin de Rada, provincial of the Augustinians, reported its existence in Luzon (Philippine Islands) as early as 1577 . The practice is believed to have had its origin in religious motives, the worship of skulls being universal among the Malays . Severe repressive measures have led to its decrease . Among the Igorrotes all that remains is the dance, accompanied by singing, around the bare pole on which the head was formerly fixed . With the Ilongotes a bridegroom must bring his bride a number of heads, those of Christians being preferred . The chief examples of head-hunters are the Was, a hill-tribe on the north-eastern frontier of India, and the Nagas and Kukis of Assam . See Bock, Headhunters of Borneo (1881); W . H . Furness, Home Life of Borneo Head-hunters (Philadelphia, 1902); T .

C .

Hodson, Head-hunting in Assam," in Folk-Lore, xx . 2 . 132 .