Comments:Владимирцов 258. The root is rather difficult to distinguish from *t`ḕpá 'to catch, embrace' and from *t`òp`u 'round, clot' : an expressive sound shape, liable to mergers. Note that within Turkic there may have also been a confusion of this root with PA *tújpè 'hill, top', cf. some Oghuz forms with d- (Doerfer TMN 1, 450-452 attempts to connect Turk. *tepe with Mong. deɣe- 'above', which has a different, quite plausible etymology). The original meaning of *t`ĕp`á could be "top of head" (whence "tuft of hair on top or back of head"): cf. the common Turk.-Mong. derivative *t`ep`a-lV 'spot on the forehead of an animal' (WMong. tögele, Khalkha tȫĺ; Turkm. depel, Az. täpel, Kirgh. töböl etc.), see Владимирцов 213, KW 408, ЭСТЯ 3, 200.
