knight English · revision 6814

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 893|origins=gmw-pro *knehtą}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈnaɪ̯t/, /ˈnɐɪ̯t/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English kniht, [[inh|ang|cniht|t=boy, youth, servant]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) from [[gmw-pro|*knehtą]], of unknown origin,^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline) cognate with [[ofs|kniucht]], [[nl|knecht|t=servant]] and [[de|Knecht|t=servant, farmhand]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A boy or youth, a sense found only in Old English (about 893).^(OED 1989) Barnhart has Old English cēap-cneht, a bought youth, a slave, in the earliest Latin–English glossaries, about 700.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ An attendant or servant is from about 950, and a military follower of a king or lord from before 1100.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) Etymonline says the word took on a specific military sense in the Hundred Years War and rose until it became a rank of the nobility in the 16th century;^(Etymonline) in modern Britain a knight holds a non-hereditary title conferred by the sovereign, with the prefix ''Sir''.^(OED 1989)^(Collins 2023) The ''knight of the shire'', a county's member of Parliament, is from 1399.^(OED 1989) The chess piece is also called a knight.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023) Word Origins notes the ''knight in shining armour'' (mid-20th century; 1965 in the OED) and, from the 1970s, the stock-market ''white knight'' who saves a company from a hostile bid.^(Cresswell 2021)^(OED 1989) The verb, to make a knight, is from the early 13th century.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) Middle English sometimes had the plural knighten.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 700 – cēap-cneht, a bought youth.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 893 – a boy, youth.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 950 – a servant.^(OED 1989)

+ * before 1100 – a military follower.^(OED 1989)

+ * early 13th century – the verb.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1399 – knight of the shire.^(OED 1989)

+ * 16th century – a rank conferred by the sovereign.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1965 – knight in shining armour.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # In the Middle Ages, a mounted soldier serving a [[feudal]] lord, or a gentleman-soldier raised to that rank after serving as [[page]] and [[squire]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # In Britain, a man given a non-hereditary rank by the sovereign, entitled to be called ''Sir''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A man devoted to the service of a lady or a cause; a [[champion]].^(AHD)

+ # A [[chess]] piece shaped like a horse's head.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To make a person a knight.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[knightly]]

+ * [[knightliness]]

+ * [[knightless]]

+ * [[unknighted]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[knave]]

+ * [[chivalry]]

+ * [[cavalier]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}