basic vocabulary borrowing (was: IE "Urheimat" and evidencefrom Uralic linguistics)

[Robert Orr]

As for body parts, there is hardly a real "reason" for replacing native
words by foreign ones in any circumstance (other than the wish to be
considered fashionable, of course).

YES, THERE IS (if we consider exactly what is meant by foreign)

A word is "borrowed" in a different meaning (cf. Latin cuppa > (Old High)
German kop(f))

Later on, a (nativised) kopf is transferred (probably via slang) to become
the (unmarked) word for head.

The native speakers have not "borrowed" the word for head.  there has been
an internal semantic shift.

But to sophisticated linguists it does look like a borrowing.

I know this makes things more complicated, but it's probably the path most
of these forms took.

Robert Orr