cnif
Middle English edit
Noun edit
cnif
- Alternative form of knyf
Old English edit
Etymology edit
This word is the expected reflex of Proto-Germanic *knībaz (“knife”), but it is not attested until the 11th century and earlier Old English instead used seax and meteseax (cognate with German Messer), so some suspect that cnīf was borrowed from or reinforced by Old Norse knífr. Cognate with Middle Low German knīf, Middle Dutch cnijf (Dutch knijf), German Kneif.[1]
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
cnīf m
Declension edit
Declension of cnif (strong a-stem)
Descendants edit
References edit
- ^ Dance, Richard, Pons-Sanz, Sara, Schorn, Brittany (2019) “knyf n. BB2a”, in The Gersum Project [1], University of Cambridge, University of Cardiff, and the University of Sheffield.