cnawan

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *knāan. There are Germanic cognates in Old High German -cnāhen, Old Norse kná. From the same Proto-Indo-European source are cennan, cunnan. With gecnāwan, the two words together mean “know”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈknɑː.wɑn/

Verb

cnāwan

1. to know

Usage notes

Old English used several different words to mean “to know”:

• Witan meant “to be aware of”, and was used with facts and pieces of information: Iċ wāt þæt iċ nāt nāwiht (“I know that I know nothing”), Hwā wāt hū fela ōðerra manna sind mē ġelīċe? (“Who knows how many other people are like me?”), Hwanon wāst þū mīnne naman? (“How do you know my name?”), Þū wāst hwæt tō dōnne is (“You know what to do”).
• Cunnan meant “to be familiar with”, and was used with people, places, concepts, and skills: Mæġ iċ hine lufian swīðor þonne iċ hine cann? (“Can I love him more than I know him?”), Ne sorge ġē, iċ cann þis sċræf swā æftewearde mīne hand (“Don't worry, I know this cave like the back of my hand”), Ealdenglisċ cunnan þyncþ mē unnytt (“Knowing Old English seems useless to me”). With verbs, it means “to know how”: Þū āna cūðest mē hreddan (“You're the only person who knew how to save me”), Wisson ġit þæt hē singan cann? (“Did you know he can sing?”)
• Ġecnāwan and oncnāwan meant “to recognize, identify”, and could be used almost interchangeably with each other: Þā stefne iċ wolde āhwǣr ġecnāwan (“I'd know that voice anywhere”), Ġecnǣwst þū þisne wer? (“Do you know this man?”), Iċ oncnāwe gōd handweorc þonne iċ hit ġesēo (“I know good craftsmanship when I see it”), Be þon oncnāwaþ ealle menn þæt ġē sind mīne frīend (“That's how everyone will know you're my friends”). Though cnāwan is the ancestor of modern know and was probably a synonym, it was many times less common than these two prefixed forms in the Old English period, being attested only a few times in the surviving corpus.
• Tōcnāwan meant “to distinguish, discern”: riht and wōh tōcnāwan (“to know right from wrong”).

Conjugation

Conjugation of cnāwan (strong class 7)

infinitive	cnāwan	cnāwenne
indicative mood	present tense	past tense
first person singular	cnāwe	cnēow
second person singular	cnǣwst	cnēowe
third person singular	cnǣwþ	cnēow
plural	cnāwaþ	cnēowon
subjunctive	present tense	past tense
singular	cnāwe	cnēowe
plural	cnāwen	cnēowen
imperative
singular	cnāw
plural	cnāwaþ
participle	present	past
	cnāwende	(ġe)cnāwen

Derived terms

• becnāwan
• ġecnāwan
• oncnāwan
• tōcnāwan

Descendants

• Middle English: knowen, knowe
  • English: know
  • Geordie English: knaw
  • Scots: knaw
  • Yola: knouth, know