hlav

Hlav is a linguistic root found in several Slavic languages that carries the general sense of head or chief, and by extension of primary or main. In modern usage, forms based on this root appear as noun stems or as parts of adjectives and compound terms that denote importance, leadership, or the front position of something.

Etymology and cognates

The root is traced to the common Slavic word glava meaning head. Across languages this root has produced related terms with overlapping senses of head, leader, or primary. While the exact phonetic shape varies by language (for example hlav- in some Czech forms and glav- in Russian-derived words), the semantic core remains the same: something at the top or most important position.

Usage in Slavic languages

In Czech, hlava means head, while hlavní denotes main or principal, as in hlavní město for the capital city or hlavní stránka for the main page. The form hlavu or hlavy appears in inflected cases of the noun. In Russian, the cognate word глава (glava) means head and also a chapter or section of a book, while главнЫй (glavny) or главная (glavnaya) convey the idea of chief or main, as in главная страница (glavnaya stranitsa) for the homepage. The root also appears in other compound terms across Slavic languages to express priority or leadership.

See also

Head (anatomy), Chief, Main page, Chapter (in literature)