gnast
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -æst
Etymology 1
From Middle English gnast, knast, from Old English *gnāst (“spark”) (attested in fȳrgnāst (“spark of fire”)), from Proto-Germanic *gahnaistô (“spark”), from Proto-Germanic *ga- + Proto-Germanic *hnaistô (“spark”), perhaps from the ultimate (imitative) source of German knistern (“to crackle”).[1]
Cognate with German dialectal Ganster (“spark”), Danish gnist (“spark, sparkle”), Swedish gnista (“spark”), Icelandic gneisti, neisti (“spark”), German Gneis (“spark, gneiss”) (whence English gneiss).
Noun
gnast (plural gnasts)
Etymology 2
From Middle English gnasten, gnaisten, from Old English *gnǣstan, from Proto-Germanic *gnaistijaną, causative of *gnīstijaną (“to grind”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰneydh-, *gʰneyd- (“to gnaw, scratch, rub”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian knasterje (“to gnash”), German Low German gnatschen (“to knead, gnash”), German knastern (“to gnash”), Icelandic gnesta (“to crack”).
Verb
gnast (third-person singular simple present gnasts, present participle gnasting, simple past and past participle gnasted)
- (transitive, intransitive, obsolete) To gnash.
Derived terms
References
- Guus Kroonen (2013) “gnaistan”, in Alexander Lubotsky, editor, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 183
Anagrams
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