'Skull' is Scandinavian for 'bowl' — it displaced native 'brainpan' and is kin to the toast 'skal.'
The bony framework of the head, enclosing the brain and supporting the face.
From Middle English 'skulle,' likely from Old Norse 'skuli' or a closely related Scandinavian form, possibly connected to Old Norse 'skel' (shell) and Scandinavian dialect words for skull. The Norse word may derive from PIE *skel- (to cut, to split), conceiving of the skull as the shell-like case that is split or hollowed out — comparable to Latin 'calvaria' (skull, from 'calvus,' bald, bare) and 'testa' (skull in some Romance languages, the same word as pot, shell, tile). English 'skull' displaced the native Old English 'heafodpanne' (literally head-pan
The Scandinavian drinking toast 'skål!' (cheers) is related to 'skull' — both derive from the Norse word for a bowl-shaped vessel. The persistent legend that Vikings drank from the skulls of their enemies is false, but the etymological connection between skulls and drinking bowls is real.