Etymology

A verbal n. of the common v. connen, cunnen etc. (< OE cunnan 'to know, understand, know how to, etc.') meaning 'understanding, arts' is common and widespread from the fourteenth century, and both the form and sense could simply represent native developments, as most commentators silently imply. Anderson's tentative note in his gloss '? ON kunnandi' raises the possibility of ON input, and the OIcel equivalent kunnandi 'knowledge' is attested early (Icelandic homilies, c. 1200). It might, therefore, have contributed to development or frequency of this usage in English, but the possibility must remain speculative.

PGmc Ancestor

*kunnan-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

kunnandi 'knowledge'
(ONP kunnandi (sb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

OE Cognate

cp. cunnan (v.) 'to know, understand, know how to, etc.'

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

CCC3

(CCC5)

Attestation

Common and widespread from the 14c.; MED's earliest citation is c1330(?c1300) Spec.Guy (Auch) in sense (2) 'knowledge, understanding'. Cp. similiarly MED s.v. conning (ppl.) and OED cunning (adj.).

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Cl 1611, 1625; WA 1021, 2368, 4227 etc.

WA 4244 MS cunmynge

Bibliography

MED cǒnninge (ger.) , OED cunning (n.1) , HTOED , HTOED , de Vries kunna, Mag. kunna, Orel *kanna, Kroonen *kunnan-, DOE cunnan, AEW cunnan