gnaistes

v. (pres. 3 sg.)

'gnashes'

(Modern English )

Etymology

Always derived from ON, cp. OIcel gnastan 'gnashing (of teeth)' and gnísta 'gnash teeth, snarl'. The ME v. can either be explained as deriving from an ablaut variant or, as OED notes, irregular variation due to the onomatopoeic nature of the word. The root does not appear outside Scandinavia and the ult. etymology is unclear, but probably imitative.

 

 

PGmc Ancestor

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

cp. gnastan 'gnashing (of teeth)', gnísta 'gnash teeth, snarl'
(ONP cp. gnastan (sb.), gnísta, nísta (vb.)(2))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

OE Cognate

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

B1

Attestation

MED's citations, beginning in the mid-14c., are especially frequent from the E and N/EM but also include more widespread instances, incl. Malory.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

WA 5321

Bibliography

MED gnā̆sten (v.) , OED gnast (v.) , Bj. 42n, 55, 297, de Vries gnastan, Mag. gnastan, gnastran