Праяпонский: *kàsìrà
Англ. значение: head
Русское значение: голова
Древнеяпонский: kasira
Среднеяпонский: kàsìrá, kàsìrà
Токио: kashirá
Кето: káshìrà
Кагосима: kashirá
Комментарии: JLTT 441 ('head; chief'). The word means 'head' (also 'head part', 'chief part') in most modern and Middle Japanese sources (explicitly so in Wamyōshō); KKJ (p. 232) also lists the meaning 'hair of head' (attested in Tosa Nikki), obviously secondary, with a rather natural semantic transition. IKJ (p. 297) glosses the word as "denoting the whole head including the hair and face", as opposed to kaube ( = kami-be) denoting only the top of the head and to atama "fontanelle". The only clear OJ (Man'yōshū 4346) example (kasira kakinade...) may be well translated (and usually is translated) as 'stroking the head'. Therefore the idea (see Vovin 2000) that the original meaning of kasira was 'hair of head' (the meaning that was always expressed in Japanese as kami) is most certainly wrong - just as his attempt to link it with the rather obscure Old Korean 麻帝核試 (MC mạ-tìej-xạ̈ik-śì) `hair of head'. The latter should be probably read as [mǝri-ɣak-si], where mǝri- is `head', while -ɣak-si may stand for kark-[si] - with kark- being identical to MKor. kārki `mane', modern mǝri-kharak `hair of head'. Despite the uncertainty of Old Korean readings in general and of -si in Old Korean -ɣak-si, it seems much more reasonable to link the Old Korean and later Korean sources than to invent a new Old Korean word *kasi `hair' and compare it with a wrongly interpreted Old Japanese word.
