cnif

Middle English

Noun

cnif

  1. Alternative form of knyf

Old English

Etymology

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
  • IPA(key): /kniːf/

Noun

cnīf m

  1. knife

Declension
Declension of cnif (strong a-stem)
Case Singular Plural
nominative cnīf cnīfas
accusative cnīf cnīfas
genitive cnīfes cnīfa
dative cnīfe cnīfum

Descendants
  • Middle English: knyf, knif

References
  1. Dance, Richard, Pons-Sanz, Sara, Schorn, Brittany (2019) “knyf n. BB2a”, in The Gersum Project Freely accessible⁠‎, University of Cambridge, University of Cardiff, and the University of Sheffield.
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