Etymograph

English

gnast

Gnast comes from Middle English gnast ‘spark (small fire)’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *gahnaistô.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gahnaistô‘spark’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150*gnāst‘spark’reconstructed
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gnast‘spark (small fire)’
  4. Englishtodaysame form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gahnaistô‘spark’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150*gnāst‘spark’reconstructed
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gnast‘spark (small fire)’
  4. Englishtodaysame form

A compound of *ga- ‘Indicates association or togetherness’ + *hnaistô ‘spark’

Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm ‘with, near, by, along’

Proto-Germanic *ga- ‘Indicates association or togetherness’

The story

From Middle English gnast, knast, from Old English *gnāst (‘spark’) (attested in fȳrgnāst (‘spark of fire’)), from Proto-Germanic *gahnaistô (‘spark’), from Proto-Germanic *ga- + Proto-Germanic *hnaistô (‘spark’), perhaps from the ultimate (imitative) source of German knistern (‘to crackle’).

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *gahnaistô

Today it means

noun A spark; a dying or dead spark, as of a snuffed candle.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *gahnaistô / gnast

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