Heade

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. The uppermost part of the body that contains the brain and sense organs ; a person who leads or commands others ; the top or front end of an object
2. The rounded upper portion of the body housing the brain and face ; someone in charge who directs a group ; the foremost or uppermost part of a thing
3. The topmost part of a human or animal body containing the brain ; a leader holding authority over others ; the leading or uppermost end of something

Etymology: "Heade" is a Middle English spelling of "head," used in the centuries when English spelling had not yet settled. Writers of that period spelled the same word "hed," "hede," "heed," and "heade," often for the same sound. The final "-e" was a common Middle English ending that no longer had a clear grammatical job. The word goes back to Old English "hēafod," which meant the top part of the body, and it is much older than the English language. Its Germanic relatives include Old Norse "höfuð" and Old High German "houbit," which suggests a shared Proto-Germanic ancestor. Scholars have proposed earlier Indo-European roots, but those links are uncertain, so the firmest ground is the Germanic family itself.