English
kneeling
Kneeling comes from Middle English knelinge.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500knelinge
- Englishearliest quotation 2003kneeling
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500knelinge
- Englishearliest quotation 2003kneeling
Earliest quotation: 2003, Marcella Althaus-Reid, The queer God: “A whole symbolic sexual order is obviously manifested in…”
Formed from kneel + -ing
Proto-Indo-European *ǵónu ‘knee’
…
Proto-West Germanic *kneu ‘knee’
Old English cnēow ‘knee’
Old English cnēowlian ‘to kneel’
Middle English knelen ‘to kneel or genuflect’
English kneel
Every English word from Middle English knelinge
Today it means
noun The act by which someone kneels.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English knelinge / kneeling