On the lexeme 'head' in Zamucoan

The present paper examines the lexeme 'head' in the three main languages of the Zamucoan family: †Old Zamuco, Ayoreo and Chamacoco. After a short introduction to the Zamucoan family (§1), I describe the inflectional morphology of 'head' (§2): its suffixation (§2.1) and possessive prefixation (§2.2). §2.3 analyzes old attestations of the word, that show the same grammatical features presented in §2.1 and §2.2. Then, I discuss the uses of 'head' in compounds and expressions related to body parts (§3.1), to the intellect (§3.2), and names for animals stemming from 'head' (§3.3). ‘Head’ can also indicate the 'beginning' or the most important part of something. Section §4 offers some conclusions