cniht

Middle English

Noun

cniht

  1. (Early Middle English) alternative form of knyght

Old English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *kneht.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /knixt/, [kniçt]

Noun

cniht m

  1. boy
    • late 9th century, translation of Orosius’ History Against the Pagans
      On þām ġewinne, ⁊ ēac on moneġum oþrum æfter þǣm, Hannibal ġecȳþde þone nīþ ⁊ þone hete þe hē beforan his fæder ġeswōr, þā hē nigonwintre cniht wæs, þæt hē næfre ne wurde Rōmana frēond.
      In that battle, and also in many others after that, Hannibal proved the hatred and hostility that he had sworn before his father when he was a nine-year-old boy, that he would never become a friend of the Romans.
  2. (male) servant, attendant
  3. male of high military rank, ranking below a baron, usually previously having worked as a page or squire

Declension

Strong a-stem:

singular plural
nominative cniht cneoht, cnihtas
accusative cniht cneoht, cnihtas
genitive cnihtes cneoht, cnihta
dative cnihte cneoht, cnihtum

Antonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Middle English: knyght
    • English: knight
    • Scots: knicht
    • Yola: nickht
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