E 0512          KNUCKLE

The word " knuckle " is of Germanic origin .

H 0764             ה נ ק

Concept of root : bone

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ה נ ק

qané

upper armbone

Related English words

knuckle

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ה נ ק

qané

upper armbone

q . n .

English

knuckle

knuckle

k n . ck

Middle English

knokel

knuckle

k n . k

Dutch

knook;

knokel;

knokkel

knook;

 knokel;  knokkel

bone;

joint; fingerjoint

k n . k <

*k . n

Middle Dutch

cnoke;

cnokel;

-

cnockel

cnoke;

cnokel;

-

cnockel

bone;

joint, vertebra;

joint

c n . k <

*c . n

 

 

Hebrew *QANÉ --- *KNŎK- Proto-Germanic

 

 

This entry can be related to the couple of E 0506 (Hebrew 0638) and E 0507 (Hebrew 0639).

 

The interface is narrow but clear. The word for "upper armbone" can hardly have been derived from "cane". And in its isolation in the Bible it probably was an old word, getting out of use. In fact in Modern Hebrew one looks for it in vain.

 

The second K in the English and Dutch words is not part of the original root, as is seen from the word "cnoesel" in Middle Dutch, that says "ankle-joint". The " L " we see indicates diminutives .

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. In the specific meaning of this entry we have no evidence from other Semitic languages that would allow a hypothesis .

 

Note:
  • English "knuckle " has been introduced first as " knokel "in Middle English, that has loaned it from Dutch or Low German , according to the general opinion . They are diminutives .

 

Note:
  • Dutch. The distinctions between the various words are not are always sufficiently precise or, more probably, have gone partially lost. But a "knokkel" is the smallest joint, that of the fingers. In Middle Dutch it did not yet have exclusively that meaning.

     

    "Cnokels" are basically "joints" and as such used in plural. But the word is also used for the total of the bones. The suffix "-el" that indicates iterativity in verbs, may have had this function in the shaping of the words. We find also "-er", a verbal iterative suffix, in some plurals like for example "kinderen = children" and, of all things, "beenderen = bones"

     

    "Knoken" also in modern language should not be used for "bones" instead of "joints". But the discipline lacks.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. In Germanic languages we find "KN O K-" , both in Old Norse and Norwegian" knoka", Swedish dialect "knoka ( with O-sound as in "awe")", English "knock", Middle High German "knochen" ( typically with K becoming CH) and Dutch "knokken".

     

    The group of words around the root of English "knuckle" follows generally rules of development often seen in Germanic. There is a number of diminutives, characterized by the consonant "L" . English seems to use only the diminutive "knuckle", as do Old English in "cnucel" and Old Frisian in "knokel". But Old English "cnucian = to knock ( as on a door)" has the old root without "L". In Danish we see "knogle" and "knokkel" and also an interesting "kno", Then there is "knoge" as seen in Swedish that has also "knoka". German "Knochen, Knöchel" and Dutch "knok, knook, knokkel" have standard and diminutive words.

     

    The initial "KN" sometimes spelled "CN" is omnipresent. The following vowel is nearly always "O", either short or long. But sometimes it becomes "U" as in English, and in Norwegian dialect there is "knjuka= fingerknuckle" . The third consonant is "K", ( also spelled "C"), that according to a normal development in German becomes "CH".

     

    The probable Proto-Germanic was "*KN Ŏ K-".

     

    A hypothesis is that this "*KN Ŏ K- was developed by doubling of the K-sound out of an earlier "*N Ō K-". There exists a Dutch verb "nokken" that comprehends also an action of pummeling and thrusting. If this would be right, the similarity with "qané" would be just accidental. The doubling of "K" , if it has taken place in "knuckle" and its cognates, would rather be the adding of the second finalò "K-sound".

     

    Another hypothetical root is a "*KN Ō-" , perhaps newer and a sister of the root "KN I-" that has given the English word "knee" and its many sisters, among which Old Frisian "knī", identical to German and Dutch, where the long "I" is spelled "IE": "Knie".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. Regretfully we have no indications about possible cognates in other groups of Indo-European languages.

 

 

 
"...the town, to which was given the name Babel, because it was there that the Lord confused the language of all the world on the face of which He dispersed them. GENESIS 11,9"
 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 22/11/2012 at 14.07.41