knífr

Forms

knífr m (genitive knífs, plural knífar) (strong a-stem)^[1] Runic knif on a find from Lund, Denmark (DR EM85;462A).^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *knībaz (“knife”),^[1][3][4] with the cognates Old Frisian knīf, Middle Low German knīf and Middle Dutch cnijf, and German dialect Kneif (“shoemaker's knife”).^[3][5][6] Old English cnīf appears only in late Old English and may be from Norse.^[5][7]

Forms with ⟨p⟩ stand beside it, Middle Low German knīp (“knife”) among them;^[3][8][5] Orel and Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon relate the word to the verb for “to pinch” in spite of the different consonant, from a Germanic stem meaning “to squeeze, nip off”.^[3][8][5] Köbler traces it to Proto-Indo-European *gneybʰ- (“to pinch”).^[4][9] Falk instead took the first sense as “curved tool”, noting that kneif is above all a fisherman's knife, and linked it with kneikja.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Two runic finds may be older than the manuscripts: a piece from Lund that says knífr mælti “the knife spoke”, dated to the eleventh century by Rundata with a query, and one from Germany with Pái á knif góðan “Pái owns a good knife”.^[2][10] The first dated manuscript records are cnifi in AM 619 4to of 1200–1225^[11] and, about 1220, a woman who bra … cnífe oc leitaþe at scera a halsinn “drew a knife and tried to cut at the throat”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The knífr was the knife or dirk worn at the belt; a knife with a belt was a usual gift, and the handles were carved from walrus ivory.^[13] Deila kníf ok kjǫtstykki “to share knife and piece of meat” meant to live together as kinsmen, a phrase of the Grágás and the sagas.^[14][12] Kaupa um knífa “to exchange knives” is said of a woman changing her husband.^[15][14] In poetry it is a word of Atlamál, where Hǫgni's heart is cut out with a knife.^[16][17]

Icelandic has hnífur, with hn- since the sixteenth century, beside knífur.^[8] The mainland languages have Swedish, Danish and Norwegian kniv.^[5] English knife is usually taken from Norse, though the West Germanic cognates leave room for a native word.^[7][18] French canif “penknife” is also of Germanic origin, possibly through Old English.^[5]

Timeline

• 1200–1225 – cnifi in the manuscript AM 619 4to.^[11]
• 1220 – bra hon cnífe “she drew a knife”, ONP's first dated citation.^[12]
• 1250 – knífr ok kjǫtstykki “knife and piece of meat” in the Grágás manuscript Konungsbók.^[12]
• 1500s – Icelandic hnífur with hn-.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. a knife, dirk or dagger.^[12][19]
2. a penknife.^[12]
3. (figurative) a husband, in kaupa um knífa “to change husbands”.^[15][14]

Word family

• matknífr
• skrifknífr
• tǫlguknífr
• brytknífr
• borðknífr
• knífsblað
• knífshepti
• knífsoddr
• knífsskepti

Descendants

• Icelandic hnífur^[1]
• Faroese knívur^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk kniv^[1]
• Norwegian Bokmål kniv^[1]
• Swedish kniv^[1]
• Danish kniv^[1]
• Old English cnīf, probably (English knife)^[7][18]

Related words

• kneif

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. DR EM85;462A
3. ^ a b c d Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 218
4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
5. ^ a b c d e f g de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 321
6. ^ Falk, Hjalmar; Torp, Alf (1910–1911), Norwegisch-dänisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg, p. s.v. kniv
7. ^ a b c Dance, Richard; Pons-Sanz, Sara; Schorn, Brittany, eds., The Gersum Project: The Scandinavian Influence on English Vocabulary, gersum.org
8. ^ a b c d Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. hnífur
9. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke, p. 370
10. ^ Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. DE EM85;534
11. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 619 4to
12. ^ a b c d e f Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. knífr
13. ^ Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 346
14. ^ a b c Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. knífr
15. ^ a b Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 332
16. ^ Gering, Hugo (1903), Vollständiges Wörterbuch zu den Liedern der Edda, Halle: Waisenhaus, p. col. 556
17. ^ Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 342
18. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
19. ^ Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. knífr