kunna

Forms

kunna (present)^[1] A preterite-present verb: present kann, plural kunnum, preterite kunna (later kunni), neuter past participle kunnat.^[2][3] On Swedish runestones: present kan and subjunctive kuni.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *kunnaną (“to know, be able”).^[1][5] The same preterite-present verb is Gothic 𐌺𐌿𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (kunnan), Old English cunnan, Old Frisian kunna, Old Saxon kunnan and Old High German kunnan; the Old English verb gave the English word can.^[5][6]

The root is Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”),^[1] seen in Latin cognōscō, Ancient Greek γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō), Lithuanian žinóti (“to know”) and Old Church Slavonic знати (znati).^[7][8] Kroonen thinks the Germanic verb was built on a nasal present like the one behind the Lithuanian verb, and explains the double ⟨nn⟩ from the singular stem of that present.^[5]

In the preterite the ⟨nn⟩ comes from older ⟨nþ⟩, and the adjective kunnr “known” was once the past participle of this verb.^[2] Other Old Norse words of the root are kenna, kanna, kná, kynna and kœnn.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest dated record is on the Gotland runestone G 227, dated 1000–1150 in Rundata, where a broken line reads ráða kann, forn o[rð] “(he who) can interpret [it], old word[s]”: the verb is used of the skill of reading runes.^[10] The same formula appears on the Uppland stone U 1167, rúnum ... þeim ráða kann “who can interpret these runes”.^[11] In manuscripts ONP's first dated citation, from 1192, has the sense “to know how to, be able”: uiþ þeim er oheógt at sia er uel kaɴ sciota “against the one who knows well how to shoot it is hard to guard oneself”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

ONP orders the senses as “to know, be acquainted with”, “to learn” and “to be able, master, understand”, the last by far the commonest, with set phrases such as kunna bók “to be able to read, be learned” and kunna kvæði “to know a poem by heart”.^[12] Cleasby and Vigfússon note that knowing and being able were expressed by the one verb in all the old Germanic languages, as in Danish and Swedish still, while English and German separated ken from can and kennen from können.^[3] A further sense, “to take something ill, be displeased”, is found from the Icelandic Homily Book on, chiefly in kunna illa.^[12][13] kunna e-m þǫkk “to be grateful to someone” developed into a plain “to thank”.^[14][15]

In poetry the verb is used of knowledge of runes and charms: kunna rúnar, kunna sigrúnar.^[14] The nouns kunnátta and kunnusta “knowledge, skill” are derived from it.^[7] The verb lives on as Icelandic kunna, Swedish kunna, Danish kunne and Norwegian Bokmål kunne.^[7][16]

Timeline

• 1000–1150 – ráða kann “can interpret” on the Gotland runestone G 227.^[10]
• 1150–1250 – kann in the Norwegian fragment NRA norr fragm 81 A.^[17]
• 1192 – uel kaɴ sciota “knows well how to shoot”, the first dated citation in ONP.^[12]
• 1200 – the sense “to be displeased” in the Icelandic Homily Book, by ONP's dating.^[12]
• 1200–1225 – kunna, kann, kynni in AM 677 4to.^[18]
• 1210 – kunni in Þorláks saga, by IcePaHC's dating.^[19]

Meanings

Verb

1. to know, be acquainted with, know about.^[12][15]
2. to know by heart (a poem, songs).^[15][20]
3. to know (a person).^[15][20]
4. to learn.^[12]
5. to know how to, be able, master, understand.^[12][15]
6. kunna illa: to take something ill, be distressed or displeased.^[12][13]
7. kunna e-m þǫkk: to be grateful to someone, thank.^[15][14]
8. kunna sik: to know oneself, behave with moderation.^[15][20]

Word family

• kunnátta
• kunnusta
• kunnandi
• miskunna
• fyrirkunna

Descendants

• Icelandic kunna^[1]
• Faroese kunna^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk kunna^[1]
• Norwegian Bokmål kunne^[1]
• Old Swedish kunna^[1]
• Swedish kunna^[1]
• Old Danish kunnæ^[1]
• Danish kunne^[1]

Related words

• kenna
• kná
• kœnn
• kunnr
• kanna
• kynna

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Noreen, Adolf (1923), Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik, 4th ed., Halle, p. § 523
3. ^ a b Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 358
4. ^ Peterson, Lena (2006), Svenskt runordsregister, 3rd rev. ed., Runrön 2, Uppsala: Institutionen för nordiska språk
5. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 311
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
7. ^ a b c Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. kunna
8. ^ a b de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 334
9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. kunna
10. ^ a b Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. G 227
11. ^ Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. U 1167
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. kunna
13. ^ a b Faulkes, Anthony (2011), A New Introduction to Old Norse III: Glossary and Index of Names, 4th ed., London: Viking Society for Northern Research, p. s.v. kunna
14. ^ a b c Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 349
15. ^ a b c d e f g Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. kunna
16. ^ Falk, Hjalmar; Torp, Alf (1910–1911), Norwegisch-dänisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg, p. s.v. kunne
17. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. NRA norr fragm 81 A
18. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 677 4to
19. ^ Wallenberg, Joel C.; Ingason, Anton Karl; Sigurðsson, Einar Freyr; Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur, Icelandic Parsed Historical Corpus, version 0.9
20. ^ a b c Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 346