Old English had two words for “knife”: ‘cnīf’ (the ancestor of ‘knife’) and ‘meteseax’.
Uncategorized
30
Posts
13
Posters
0
Views
-
Old English had two words for “knife”: ‘cnīf’ (the ancestor of ‘knife’) and ‘meteseax’.
‘Meteseax’ was a compound of two words. The first one was ‘mete’ (“food”), the ancestor of ‘meat’, whose meaning was later narrowed.
The other one was ‘seax’, which meant “sword” and is related to ‘Saxon’ and the surname ‘Sax’, on which the word ‘saxophone’ was based.
Zoom in on my new graphic to learn more.
‘Meteseax’ would’ve become ... 1/
-
Old English had two words for “knife”: ‘cnīf’ (the ancestor of ‘knife’) and ‘meteseax’.
‘Meteseax’ was a compound of two words. The first one was ‘mete’ (“food”), the ancestor of ‘meat’, whose meaning was later narrowed.
The other one was ‘seax’, which meant “sword” and is related to ‘Saxon’ and the surname ‘Sax’, on which the word ‘saxophone’ was based.
Zoom in on my new graphic to learn more.
‘Meteseax’ would’ve become ... 1/
2/
... *messex if it had survived, but it didn’t even make it into Middle English. However, it does have living cognates in some of the sister languages of English, including German ‘Messer’ and Dutch ‘mes’.
In this post, you can hear and see how Dutch ‘mes’ and German ‘Messer’ evolved from Proto-Germanic, step by step. I also tell all about the difference between Proto-Germanic *matisahsan with an s and *matizahsan with a z (520 words, tier 1):
https://www.patreon.com/posts/messer-and-mes-936987552/
-
2/
... *messex if it had survived, but it didn’t even make it into Middle English. However, it does have living cognates in some of the sister languages of English, including German ‘Messer’ and Dutch ‘mes’.
In this post, you can hear and see how Dutch ‘mes’ and German ‘Messer’ evolved from Proto-Germanic, step by step. I also tell all about the difference between Proto-Germanic *matisahsan with an s and *matizahsan with a z (520 words, tier 1):
https://www.patreon.com/posts/messer-and-mes-936987552/
3/
Old English ‘cnīf’, the ancestor of ‘knife’, wasn’t attested until the 11th century. It came from Proto-Germanic *knībaz (“(pocket) knife”), perhaps – but not necessarily – via Old Norse ‘knífr’.
Its cognates include West Frisian ‘knyft’, ‘kniif’, obsolete Dutch ‘knijf’, Low Saxon/German ‘knyf’, German ‘Kneif’ (via Low Saxon/German), and archaic German ‘Kneip’. French ‘canif’ was borrowed from West Germanic.
-
Old English had two words for “knife”: ‘cnīf’ (the ancestor of ‘knife’) and ‘meteseax’.
‘Meteseax’ was a compound of two words. The first one was ‘mete’ (“food”), the ancestor of ‘meat’, whose meaning was later narrowed.
The other one was ‘seax’, which meant “sword” and is related to ‘Saxon’ and the surname ‘Sax’, on which the word ‘saxophone’ was based.
Zoom in on my new graphic to learn more.
‘Meteseax’ would’ve become ... 1/
@yvanspijk Part of my family tree includes the Sexsmiths.
Imagine my disappointment when I learned the *actual* origins of that surname 😄 -
Old English had two words for “knife”: ‘cnīf’ (the ancestor of ‘knife’) and ‘meteseax’.
‘Meteseax’ was a compound of two words. The first one was ‘mete’ (“food”), the ancestor of ‘meat’, whose meaning was later narrowed.
The other one was ‘seax’, which meant “sword” and is related to ‘Saxon’ and the surname ‘Sax’, on which the word ‘saxophone’ was based.
Zoom in on my new graphic to learn more.
‘Meteseax’ would’ve become ... 1/
So this is where German "Messer" comes from 😲
-
@yvanspijk Part of my family tree includes the Sexsmiths.
Imagine my disappointment when I learned the *actual* origins of that surname 😄@MichaelPorter I hope that the fact that Latin 'sexus', which gave us 'sex', is very distantly related to this word family as well.
-
3/
Old English ‘cnīf’, the ancestor of ‘knife’, wasn’t attested until the 11th century. It came from Proto-Germanic *knībaz (“(pocket) knife”), perhaps – but not necessarily – via Old Norse ‘knífr’.
Its cognates include West Frisian ‘knyft’, ‘kniif’, obsolete Dutch ‘knijf’, Low Saxon/German ‘knyf’, German ‘Kneif’ (via Low Saxon/German), and archaic German ‘Kneip’. French ‘canif’ was borrowed from West Germanic.
@yvanspijk
I never heard Kneif or Kneip – probably too outdated?
Are these related to “kneifen“ (to pinch), maybe because the pocket knife is foldable?
And “Kneipe” (pub)?
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kneipe says Kneipe (Kneipschenke) stems from kneifen, because it was cramped. -
@yvanspijk
I never heard Kneif or Kneip – probably too outdated?
Are these related to “kneifen“ (to pinch), maybe because the pocket knife is foldable?
And “Kneipe” (pub)?
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kneipe says Kneipe (Kneipschenke) stems from kneifen, because it was cramped.@fiee That's right!
'Kneif' and 'Kneip' are still listed in Duden, but they're indeed outdated.
-
@yvanspijk
I never heard Kneif or Kneip – probably too outdated?
Are these related to “kneifen“ (to pinch), maybe because the pocket knife is foldable?
And “Kneipe” (pub)?
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kneipe says Kneipe (Kneipschenke) stems from kneifen, because it was cramped.@fiee @yvanspijk in the moselle franconian dialects, a small potato knife is a "Kneipchen" and of course, there is the "Kneifzange"
-
@fiee That's right!
'Kneif' and 'Kneip' are still listed in Duden, but they're indeed outdated.
@yvanspijk Ok, Wahrig says Kneif/Kneip is still used by craftspeople like leatherworkers or gardeners. I seem to remember hearing it for a gardening knife. (Perhaps it was @pjakobs ’s Kneipchen.)
-
So this is where German "Messer" comes from 😲
I grew up in a town that received a lot of German immigrants in the 1800s. “Messerschmitt” was a common surname. Apparently’ “Knifemaker” (?)
-
Old English had two words for “knife”: ‘cnīf’ (the ancestor of ‘knife’) and ‘meteseax’.
‘Meteseax’ was a compound of two words. The first one was ‘mete’ (“food”), the ancestor of ‘meat’, whose meaning was later narrowed.
The other one was ‘seax’, which meant “sword” and is related to ‘Saxon’ and the surname ‘Sax’, on which the word ‘saxophone’ was based.
Zoom in on my new graphic to learn more.
‘Meteseax’ would’ve become ... 1/
That phrase could regain popularity: “Dude, could ya hand me that meat sword?”
-
I grew up in a town that received a lot of German immigrants in the 1800s. “Messerschmitt” was a common surname. Apparently’ “Knifemaker” (?)
@donray @Mab_813 @yvanspijk Yes, knifemaker or literally knife smith.
-
3/
Old English ‘cnīf’, the ancestor of ‘knife’, wasn’t attested until the 11th century. It came from Proto-Germanic *knībaz (“(pocket) knife”), perhaps – but not necessarily – via Old Norse ‘knífr’.
Its cognates include West Frisian ‘knyft’, ‘kniif’, obsolete Dutch ‘knijf’, Low Saxon/German ‘knyf’, German ‘Kneif’ (via Low Saxon/German), and archaic German ‘Kneip’. French ‘canif’ was borrowed from West Germanic.
@yvanspijk And probably Catalan "ganivet".
-
I grew up in a town that received a lot of German immigrants in the 1800s. “Messerschmitt” was a common surname. Apparently’ “Knifemaker” (?)
Oh was confused at first but you are right, "Schmied" is the modern German equivalent for "smith" so I guess "schmitt" means the same.
-
@fiee That's right!
'Kneif' and 'Kneip' are still listed in Duden, but they're indeed outdated.
@yvanspijk @fiee
They are used in local dialect words for "that one sharp kitchen knife". It has a different word in many dialects, but often a version of "kneip" is included.
Where I come from, it's "kniepchen"
This article is german, but has a map: https://www.zeit.de/zeit-magazin/2015/31/deutschlandkarte-kuechenmesser-dialekt -
@yvanspijk @fiee
They are used in local dialect words for "that one sharp kitchen knife". It has a different word in many dialects, but often a version of "kneip" is included.
Where I come from, it's "kniepchen"
This article is german, but has a map: https://www.zeit.de/zeit-magazin/2015/31/deutschlandkarte-kuechenmesser-dialekt@rainyday
Interesting. I’d guess some of these words stem from a manufacturer, e.g. “Schiller”, ”Abraham” and several “Teufel” derivates. -
@yvanspijk @fiee
They are used in local dialect words for "that one sharp kitchen knife". It has a different word in many dialects, but often a version of "kneip" is included.
Where I come from, it's "kniepchen"
This article is german, but has a map: https://www.zeit.de/zeit-magazin/2015/31/deutschlandkarte-kuechenmesser-dialekt -
Oh was confused at first but you are right, "Schmied" is the modern German equivalent for "smith" so I guess "schmitt" means the same.
-
@rainyday
Interesting. I’d guess some of these words stem from a manufacturer, e.g. “Schiller”, ”Abraham” and several “Teufel” derivates.@fiee @yvanspijk
Teufel is devil. Because it is "the one sharp as hell kitchen knife", areas around franconia call it the cutting devil 😅
Abraham is a religious connotation, because if you cut yourself with it, you'll see him soon-ish.
Schiller I'm not sure, that is NL-inspired.
This kind of knife is much older than brand manufacturers, the names mostly come from faerie and other tall tales. Or describe what it does, in old and older words.
Gli ultimi otto messaggi ricevuti dalla Federazione
-
@flancian I don't have any news on this, except to say it's something that we'd like to do in future when there's bandwidth - it has a surprisingly large number of knock-on effects to consider in order to be accepted into the core code, and there are a lot of other things being worked on at the moment. So, no news as to when attention might turn to working on that, unfortunately.
-
For context, Facebook and Cambridge Analytics have already been accused of micro-targeting UK Facebook users ahead of the 2016 Brexit referendum, and more recently Xitter has been accused of amplifying far-right posts in Europe.
Little Tommeh fascist-Christian is just one of the far-right figures who are getting very agitated about the possibility of a crackdown on US social media.
https://www.aljazeera.com/video/pinch-point/2025/12/17/aje-onl-pp-the-great-replacement-v2-161225
-
@Gina I would love to take a walk but we're -21C here today...
-
@Majden888 @ro
ehm... mi prendi sul serio!?
-
🕒 #Ransomware Weekly Recap (2026-01-12 00:00 – 2026-01-18 23:59)
📊 Totale rivendicazioni: 148
🌍 Paesi top: USA 69, UK 15
🏭 Settori top: Unknown 14, Manufacturing 13
🥷 Gruppi top: qilin 34, akira 23
-
@randahl
Also ESPECIALLY Franchises and physical services such as fastfood, coffee, delivery, rentals, ride hail, Hilton etc. These are parasites. They underpay, use fake royalties and other schemes to export profits without or little tax. They often require a local to rent the premises and put up capital.Actually BAN the stupid parasites.
-
@gabardino
Anti-social Social Club
-
@randahl @masek absolutely, but right now we're just totally fucked in terms of reliance on AWS and Azure, essentially nothing in Europe will work if cloud access is disrupted. So digital services has an escalation ladder that is especially dangerous to Europe. I hope that changes soon, but it won't change soon enough
