kná

See also: KNA, knä, and knæ

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *knēaną, whence also English know. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”).

Verb

kná

1. (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.

infinitive	–
present participle	knegandi
past participle	–
indicative	present	past
1st-person singular	kná	knátta
2nd-person singular	knátt	knáttir
3rd-person singular	kná	knátti
1st-person plural	knegum	knáttum
2nd-person plural	kneguð	knáttuð
3rd-person plural	knegu	knáttu
subjunctive	present	past
1st-person singular	knega	knætta
2nd-person singular	knegir	knættir
3rd-person singular	knegi	knætti
1st-person plural	knegim	knættim
2nd-person plural	knegið	knættið
3rd-person plural	knegi	knætti
imperative	present
2nd-person singular	kneg
1st-person plural	knegum
2nd-person plural	kneguð

Conjugation of kná (preterite-present)

Descendants

• Icelandic: knega

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