knop

Definite, Old English cnæp 'proturberance, projection' was normally used of geographical features: hill-summits, hillocks, ridge-crests and the like (it continued in scholarly and dialectal usage into Modern English with this sense; also as a place-name, e.g. Knebworth). In one Old English text, cnæp is used to gloss fibula (q.v.) 'clasp, brooch, buckle' (present citation 1). This example may be compared with OE cnop 'a knob-like object', which appears in glossaries as an equivalent of Latin ballatio, taken to be a derivative of L. bulla (see bull) 'decorative ball-like object' (present citation 2). Both forms continued into Middle English (knappe, knoppe); cf. MDu./MLG knoppe, etc. However, the kna- forms may be influenced by or derived from Old Norse; cf. Old Icelandic knappr. The Welsh and Irish instances are borrowings from Germanic, either Old English or Old Norse. The variant knob (cf. MLG knobbe) appears in late Middle English, and is perhaps a borrowing from continental low German languages; in the medieval period it is normally only used for knobs of organic matter (knots on a tree, callouses etc.) and not with the senses under present discussion. Some ME forms of knappe/knoppe show dropping of initial k- (cf. the Modern English pronunciation). The forms all appear to derive from Proto-Germanic roots meaning 'a (rounded) proturberance, lump, stud', but the earlier etymology is uncertain. The verbal forms are derived from the nouns.