Etymograph

English

cunning

Cunning comes from Old English cunnan ‘to know how to, be able to’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵneh₃-‘to know’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kunnaną‘to know, to be familiar with, to recognise’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150cunnan‘to know how to, be able to’
  4. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150cunnendepresent participle of cunnan
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cunninde
  6. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500cunning
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1590same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵneh₃-‘to know’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kunnaną‘to know, to be familiar with, to recognise’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150cunnan‘to know how to, be able to’
  4. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150cunnendepresent participle of cunnan
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cunninde
  6. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500cunning
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1590same form

Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto VII: “Over them Arachne high did lift / Her cunning…”

Formed from con + -ing

Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm ‘with, along, at’

…

Proto-Italic *kom- ‘together’

Proto-Italic *komteros ‘the other of the two who meet, opposite’

Proto-Italic *komterād

Latin contrā ‘against’

English con

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- ‘to know’

know, note, normal, notice, ignore, narrative, glory, recognize, recognition, noble, notion, keen, ignorant, cognitive, norm, diagnostic, notorious, notation, nobility, prognosis, narration, gnome, notoriety, cognition, notary, quaint, agnostic, connoisseur, incognito, canny, kith, gnosis, recognizance, annotate, cognizance, 88 more

through Proto-Germanic *kunnaną ‘to know, to be familiar with, to recognise’

keenly, uncouth, 5 more

through Old English cunnan ‘to know how to, be able to’

can, could, con, ken, canna, cun, 2 more

Another origin of cunning

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵneh₃-‘to recognise’root as named
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kunnāną‘to get to know, to become familiar with’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kunnēn‘to get to know, become familiar with’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150cunnian‘to search into, try, test, seek for, explore, investigate, experience, have experience of’
  5. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150cunnung‘knowledge, trial, probation, experience, contact, carnal knowledge’
  6. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150cunnan‘to know how to, be able to’
  7. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150*cunningreconstructed
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cunning
  9. Englishtodaysame form

Today it means

adj Sly; crafty; clever in surreptitious behaviour.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- / cunning

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