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As the title suggests, why is there a change in pronunciation between
頭【かぶり】を振る and 頭【かしら】を横に振る? As far as I can see, there is no difference between
the meanings of the two—デジタル大辞泉 even lists the [former as a definition of the
latter](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%A0%AD%E3%82%92%E6%A8%AA%E3%81%AB%E6%8C%AF%E3%82%8B-462399).
Is there an etymological reason for this change? Is there even a difference
between 頭【かぶり】, 頭【かしら】 or even 頭【あたま】?
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2021-02-15T19:28:14.027
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word-choice nuances etymology pronunciation multiple-readings
頭【かぶり】を振る and 頭【かしら】を横に振る, why the change in pronunciation?
かぶり is an archaic word, and it's used almost exclusively in this idiom in
modern Japanese. It's probably an example of [a fossil
word](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_word) (an obsolete word that
remains only in a certain idiom). かぶりをふる is a literary fixed phrase that only
means "to deny/reject", and you cannot put another modifier like 横に in
between. When the physical motion is important (e.g., in dancing or
headbanging), you have to say あたまをふる. Also, 頭を縦に振る (meaning "to give the nod")
is always read あたまをたてにふる.

かしら is much rarer than あたま, but much more common than かぶり. かしら typically means
head in the sense of 'boss' in modern Japanese, but it's also just a literary
and old-sounding synonym for (physical) head. So あたまをふる and かしらをふる should be
interchangeable, but from my experience, the latter is fairly rare. In my
opinion, if you see 頭を横に振る in a modern novel, you can simply assume it's read
あたまをよこにふる. (かしら never refers to one's mind or thinking function; 頭 in 自分の頭で考えろ
or 頭が良い is always read あたま.)
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2021-02-15T20:46:41.397
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answer