cunnan

From Proto-West Germanic *kunnan, from Proto-Germanic *kunnaną.

cunnan

1. to know, to be familiar with
2. (auxiliary) can, to be able to

• Middle Dutch: connen
  • Dutch: kunnen, (dialectal) kennen, konnen
    • Afrikaans: kan (from inflected form kan)
    • Berbice Creole Dutch: kan (from inflected form kan)
    • Javindo: ken
    • Negerhollands: kan, ka (from inflected form kan)
    • Petjo: kan, ken
    • Skepi Creole Dutch: can (from inflected form kan)
  • Limburgish: kónne
  • West Flemish: keunn

• “cunnan”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

From Proto-Germanic *kunnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈkun.nɑn/

cunnan

1. to know, to be familiar with

   Iċ wāt þæt hē hīe cann, ac iċ nāt hwanon.

   I know that he knows her, but I don't know from where.

   Iċ nime þone hring, þēah iċ þone weġ ne cunne.

   I will take the ring, though I do not know the way.

   Nāwiht nis hefiġre þonne līċ. Atlas self ne cann þæt ġewiht.

   Nothing is heavier than a dead body. Atlas himself knows not the weight.

   Ne cūðe iċ hine wel, ac iċ cūðe hine oft.

   I didn't know him well, but I knew him often.

   • Ælfric's Coloquy

     Hwylcne cræft canst þū?

     What craft do you know?

   • c. 1005, Ælfric's Letter to Sigeweard

     Hū mæġ sē mann wel faran þe his mōd āwent fram eallum þissum bōcum, and biþ him swā ānwille þæt him lēofre biþ þæt hē libbe ǣfre be his āgnum dihte āsċīred fram þissum, swelċe hē ne cunne Cristes ġesetnessa?

     How can someone do well if they turn their mind from all these books , if they're so stubborn that they would rather live their life always making their own separate judgments, as if they don't know the laws of Christ?

   • late 10th century, Ælfric, "Saint Basilius, Bishop"

     Bide nu æt gode þæt ic grecisc cunne.

     Pray now to God that I may know Greek.'

2. (auxiliary) can, to know how

   Iċ cann ēow lǣran.

   I can teach you.

   Þrēo manna cynn sind: þā þe tellan cunnon and þā þe ne cunnon.

   There are three kinds of people: those who know how to count and those who don't.

   • c. 897, Alfred the Great, translation of Pope Gregory's Pastoral Care

     Hēr man mæġ ġīet ġesēon heora swaðu, ac wē him ne cunnon æfter spyrian.

     Here you can still see their footprints, but we don't know how to follow them.

3. to be able
   • late 10th century, Ælfric, "Chair of Saint Peter"

     ...and hē lēop sona cunniġende his fēðes hwæðer hē cūðe gān.

     and he leapt up immediately, trying his power of motion, whether he could walk.

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”).

In the sense of “can”, cunnan often specifically had the meaning of “to know how”. Motan was generally used for “can” in the sense of “to be allowed to”, while magan was used with the sense of “to be able to, to be capable of” (indicating that a particular thing was possible). However, this is only a generalisation; more generic, Modern English-style uses of cunnan, where it appears to be used synonymously with magan, are attested.

• cann

• Middle English: cunnen, can, canne, conne, connen, cun, cunne, kanne
  • English: can, con, cun, could, cunning, canny
  • Scots: can, cun, cunning
  • Yola: canna, cou