hnutu

Forms

hnutu f (strong consonant stem; genitive singular hnyte, nominative plural hnyte)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hnut, from Proto-Germanic *hnuts (“nut”).^[1] The noun is Old Norse hnot, Old Saxon hnut and Old High German nuz (also hnuz), continued by Dutch noot and German Nuss.^[2][3][4] Kroonen takes it as an old root noun with the plural ⟨*hnutiz⟩, the source of the Old English plural ⟨hnyte⟩.^[2]

The same root is in Latin nux (“nut”), Old Irish cnú (“nut”) and Middle Welsh cnau (“nut”), but these have a different suffix; this and the root-noun inflection lead Kroonen to suggest a source outside Indo-European.^[2] Köbler calls the origin unknown.^[3] Wiktionary reconstructs a pre-Germanic ⟨*knuds⟩ from a root ⟨*knu-⟩ found only in Germanic, Celtic and Italic.^[1]

In Old English it is a root noun of the mutation type, like fōt and bōc: genitive and dative singular and nominative plural ⟨hnyte⟩, with the umlaut of /u/ to /y/.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest dated record is in Bald's Leechbook, of the mid-tenth century, in a remedy for a swelling of the spleen that comes of æpla æte & hnuta “from eating apples and nuts”.^[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

The word is the general name of the nut, glossing Latin “nux”, “juglans” and “abellana”, the hazelnut.^[8][9][10] The medical texts prescribe kernels of pine nuts and of French nuts.^[8] In the Old English Genesis hnite renders the almonds of Latin “amygdalarum”, and in the Rushworth gloss nyte stands for “ficos”, figs.^[8][9] It is frequent in place names, as hnutfen in a charter of 884 and hnutwic in one of 935.^[11][9] Compounds name kinds of nut: hæselhnutu, pīnhnutu, wealhhnutu “walnut” and eorþhnutu.^[8][9]

It lived on as Middle English note, now English nut.^[12][13]

Timeline

• s. x med. – hnuta in Bald's Leechbook.^[6][7]
• s. xi¹ or xi med. – pintrywenum hnutum “pine nuts” in the Old English Herbarium (Cotton Vitellius C. iii).^[14][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. a nut; glossing Latin “nux”, “juglans” and “abellana”.^[8][10]
2. an almond (rendering Latin “amygdala”); a fig, in the Rushworth gloss.^[8][9]

Word family

• hæselhnutu
• pīnhnutu
• wealhhnutu
• eorþhnutu

Descendants

• Middle English note (→ English nut; Scots nute; Scots nuit)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 237
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 167
5. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 2.110
6. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 412
7. ^ a b Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 548
9. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 556
10. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hnutu
11. ^ Middendorff, H. (1902), Altenglisches Flurnamenbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 74
12. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
13. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 347