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kná. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
kná, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
kná in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
kná you have here. The definition of the word
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Old Norse
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic *knēaną, whence also English know. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”).
Verb
kná
- (defective) can, could
- c. 9th century, inscription on the Rök runestone
sakum| |mukmini uaim si burin| |niþʀ troki uilin is þat knuo knati| |iatun- Sǫgum múgminni/ungmenni, hveim sé borinn niðr drengi. Vilinn er þat. Knúa/knýja knátti jǫtun.
- I say the folktale/to the young men, to whom is born a relative, to a valiant man. It is Vélinn. He could crush a giant.
Conjugation
This verb is defective. Notably, the expected infinitive *knega is unattested.
Descendants
Further reading
- Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “kná”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 244; also available at the Internet Archive