E 0505          KNIGHT

The word " knight " is of Germanic origin .

H 0494         ת נ כ

Concept of root : companion

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ת נ כ

kenat

companion

Related English words

knight , Old English cniht, cnieht

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ת נ כ

kenat

companion

k . n . t

Old English

cniht, cnieht

young companion

k n . ht

English

knight

knight

k n . ght

Middle Dutch

cnecht

cnekht

young companion

k n . cht

 

 

Proto-Semitic *KENAT --- *KNEHT Proto-Germanic

 

 

The Old English word "cnieht" carries as basic meaning that of the lad or young man who accompanies a man in his activities . He may be there just to learn a job, as an Old Dutch "leercnecht" or he may be the shieldbearer for a warrior. Inevitably he will serve the grown-up or master and thus the word "Knecht" in modern German and the same "knecht" in modern Dutch has become to mean "servant".

 

English "knight" instead has followed a different road. From the young companion of any grown-up professionist, civil or military, via the position of companion of the King, to the already Medieval meaning of Knight.

 

This kind of differences in the development of meanings between sister languages occurs. A nice case is that of the English word "Queen", that has as its counterpart Dutch "kweene" for "old woman". An while a "kweene" was not even particularly respected, "The Old Lady" has become the Queen !

 

Note:
  • Hebrew. The Hebrew word "kenat" is found in the Bible only . It is only a substantive and no other words are found. But the original root "*K N T" must have existed.

     

    The fact that this word is found only once in the Bible, is as such no reason to suppose it is a loanword from Aramaic "kenat" or indirectly from Akkadian "kinatu" (here the U is a suffix). We have to be careful about presuming loanwords between closely related tongues . Anyhow for our comparison there is no significant difference as long as the root is Semitic .

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. The supposed root is similar to that in Hebrew, but it is also seen as carrying more meanings, such as "daughter in law" and "sister-in-law" that are found in the Arabic word "kann-at". In order to define the range of messages of this Proto-Semitic root, we rather look at the one found in Akkadian : "person of equal social status" or "colleague", as well as "person of subordinate status" or "comrade". These meanings are near Herbrew and near Aramaic and Syriac כ נ ת , kenat and should have been present already in Proto-Semitic. This language probably had "*כ נ ת , K N T". For our comparison we maintain the Hebrew and Aramaic vowels.

 

Note:
  • Germanic and Hebrew. Apparently the "CH" or as in English "GH" has been inserted later. This seems to be a frequent phenomenon in Germanic languages. It usually begins by aspiring or exhaling air before the final T, thus shaping an H. This is seen in Old Saxon and Old High German "kneht" but also still in Old English "cniht" and "cnieht". Then this H is reinforced in pronunciation, becoming GH or CH. This same phenomenon exists in Hebrew.

 

Note:
  • Germanic has another word that appears to be related to "knight" and "knecht": This is Old English "cnafa", English "knave", also found in German "Knabe" and Dutch "knaap". More often we see two alternative versions of this kind in Germanic, like in "nephew" and "niece" and in the words for "bought" that in German is "kaufte" and in Dutch "kocht". Of these words we have not found a Hebrew kin.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. In older Germanic languages we find words that begin with "KN" and end with "HT" or CHT". The central vowel is mostly an "E' ", but Old English has besides "cnieht" also an abbreviated "cniht" that has led to English "knight". Old Frisian, besides "knecht", has its speciality in "kniucht", that seems a specific Frisian development, with a diphthonging not unfamiliar to Frisian. Important is then Old Saxon "cneht", with Old High German "kneht" and Middle Dutch "cnecht". Proto-Germanic probably had "*KN E HT.

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. There seem to be no sufficient information available about cognates in other groups of languages than Germanic.

     

    There is a Russian word "князь, knjazj = prince". This is considered a loanword from Germanic "*kuninga = king". We agree that it might be a loanword, but as the meaning is not " king ", but "prince", things do not add up fully. Also an origin in the family of "knight" is doubtful. And then the change with respect to German "Knecht" is so enormous, that this Russian word presumably not is a loanword.

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 31/10/2012 at 17.47.16