κεφαλή

Ancient Greek

From Proto-Hellenic *kʰepʰəlā́, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰebʰ-l̥ (“head”) +‎ *-éh₂ (“nominal suffix”).^[1] Compare κεβλή (keblḗ). False cognate of Sanskrit कपाल (kapāla).

κεφᾰλή • (kephălḗ) f (genitive κεφᾰλῆς); first declension

head
Synonym: κάρᾱ (kárā)
a person's life (often in the sense of being in danger, similar to the English idiom "head is on the line").
the topmost part
the most important part
(Byzantine) a provincial governor

First declension of ἡ κεφᾰλή; τῆς κεφᾰλῆς (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ κεφᾰλή hē kephălḗ	τὼ κεφᾰλᾱ́ tṑ kephălā́	αἱ κεφᾰλαί hai kephălaí
Genitive	τῆς κεφᾰλῆς tês kephălês	τοῖν κεφᾰλαῖν toîn kephălaîn	τῶν κεφᾰλῶν tôn kephălôn
Dative	τῇ κεφᾰλῇ tēî kephălēî	τοῖν κεφᾰλαῖν toîn kephălaîn	ταῖς κεφᾰλαῖς taîs kephălaîs
Accusative	τὴν κεφᾰλήν tḕn kephălḗn	τὼ κεφᾰλᾱ́ tṑ kephălā́	τᾱ̀ς κεφᾰλᾱ́ς tā̀s kephălā́s
Vocative	κεφᾰλή kephălḗ	κεφᾰλᾱ́ kephălā́	κεφᾰλαί kephălaí
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “κεφαλή”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 682-3

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek κεφαλή (kephalḗ). Doublet of κεφάλι (kefáli), inherited from a diminutive form.

κεφαλή • (kefalí) f (plural κεφαλές)