n.
'rocky cliff'
(Modern English clint)Always derived from the ON n. represented by OIcel klettr 'cliff (in the landscape), cliff-face, crag, bluff, escarpment' (with vowel lowered to /e/ following assimilation of the nasal consonant; cp. Dan klint). This root is not found in English, but it is attested elsewhere in WGmc in MDu klint 'cliff, steep beach'. Its occurrence as a recurring element in place-names from the N and E of England points towards an ON etymon as does the apparent occurrence of the assimilated OWN form in e.g. Cleatop (West Riding, Yorkshire).
PGmc Ancestor
*klentaz
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
klettr 'cliff (in the landscape), cliff-face, crag, bluff, escarpment'
(ONP klettr (sb.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
Far klettur, Icel klettur, Norw klett, Dan klint, OSw klinter, Sw klint, Sw dial klätt
OE Cognate
Phonological and morphological markers
Summary category
B2abc
MED's only citations from textual sources come from N ME texts: WA and a1400(a1325) Cursor (Vsp A.3). It occurs more frequently as a place-name element, most commonly, but not exclusively, in the N and E of England (see MED, EPNE).
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
WA 4830