An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/kneipen

by Friedrich Kluge

kneipen, verb ‘to pinch,’ early Modern High German, originally Low German knîpen (see also kneifen); Dutch knijpen, ‘to nip, twitch’; probably not allied to Anglo-Saxon hnîpan, hnipian, ‘to bow,’ but to a root hnîp, ‘to nip,’ not recorded in Old Teutonic, from which also Middle English nipen, English to nip, are derived; kn initially may be explained from *gahnîpan. The pre-Teutonic root knîb appears in Lithuanian knìbti, ‘to pick, pluck,’ knèbti, ‘to nip.’ If the English word is unconnected with Dutch knijpen on account of the initial sound, we might assume a root knîb, gnîb (Lithuanian gnýbti, ‘to nip,’ gnýbis, ‘nip’), though this too is not recorded in Old Teutonic.