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]Strong a-stem:
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | cnīf | cnīfas |
| accusative | cnīf | cnīfas |
| genitive | cnīfes | cnīfa |
| dative | cnīfe | cnīfum |
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.
