Re[2]: [tied] Surname 'Knyvett' etc. and OFr 'c(a)nivet'

At 3:04:10 AM on Friday, October 10, 2008, Arnaud Fournet
wrote:

> From: "Brian M. Scott" <BMScott@...>

>> The surname <Knivett> (<Knyvett>, <Knevet>, etc.) is
>> usually explained as in the following entry from Reaney &
>> Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames, OUP, 1995;
>> angle brackets for italics in the original):

>> The AFr problems with OE /x/ are real enough: spellings
>> show that it could be replaced with /k/ or /s/ or dropped
>> altogether (e.g., <cnict>, <cnist>, <kneit>).

> I suppose AFr stands for Old French !?

No, that would be OFr. (I *am* writing in English!) 'AFr'
stands for 'Anglo-French'.

> I'm not sure you are on the right track.

> these writings <cnict>, <cnist>, <kneit> suggest they
> rhymed with -i:-t or -ij-t, there was no -h-t. /x/ was
> already dead at the time of those writings. Cf. fait /fä/
> written faict, dit /di/ written dict.

All irrelevant: I'm talking about Anglo-French and Middle
English spellings of Old English <cniht> and its Middle
English reflexes.

Brian