knot的词源

英文词源

knot

knot: [OE] The word knot goes back ultimately to a prehistoric Germanic *knūdn-, whose underlying meaning was ‘round lump’. This only emerged in the English word (in such senses as ‘point from which a branch has grown’) in the Middle English period, but it can be seen in knoll [OE], which is a derivative of the same base (the related German knolle means ‘lump’). Knob [14] may be related too, although this has never been conclusively demonstrated.

The Germanic form persified into English and Dutch knot, German knoten, Swedish knut, and Danish knode (whose Old Norse ancestor knútr was borrowed into Russian as knut ‘whip’, acquired by English as knout [18]). Knit [OE], which originally meant ‘tie in knots’, was derived in prehistoric West Germanic from knot.
=> knit

knot (n.)

Old English cnotta "intertwining of ropes, cords, etc.," from Proto-Germanic *knuttan- (cognates: Low German knütte, Old Frisian knotta "knot," Dutch knot, Old High German knoto, German Knoten, perhaps also Old Norse knutr "knot, knob"). Figurative sense of "difficult problem" was in Old English (compare Gordian knot). Symbolic of the bond of wedlock, early 13c. As an ornament of dress, first attested c. 1400. Meaning "thickened part or protuberance on tissue of a plant" is from late 14c.

The nautical unit of measure of speed (1630s) is from the practice of attaching knotted string to the log line. The ship's speed can be measured by the number of knots that play out while the sand glass is running.

The distance between the knots on the log-line should contain 1/120 of a mile, supposing the glass to run exactly half a minute. [Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa, "A Voyage to South America" 1760]

Hence the word knot came also to be used as the equivalent of a nautical mile (in pre-WWII use in U.S. and Britain, 6,080 feet). A speed of 10 knots will cover ten nautical miles in an hour (equivalent to a land speed of about 11.5 mph).

knot (v.)

"to tie in a knot," mid-15c., from knot (n.). Related: Knotted (late 12c.), knotting.

中文词源

knot：结，节，疙瘩

来自古英语cnotta,来自Proto-Germanic*knuttan,可能最终来自PIE*nod,绑，编织，打结，词源同net,node,newel.词义节来自过去在绳子末端绑上木块，并按照均等长度打结，通过数绳结的方式来计算航行速度，并成为航海速度单位。参照log.

该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：knot 词源，knot 含义。

knot：(绳)结；树节(疤)；群，簇；节(=海里/小时)；难题，疙瘩

来源于史前日耳曼语knudn-(肿块)。

同源词： knit, knob, knoll