An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/kneten

by Friedrich Kluge

kneten, verb, ‘to knead,’ from the equivalent Middle High German knëten, Old High German chnëtan; compare Middle Low German and Dutch kneden, ‘to knead,’ Anglo-Saxon cnëdan, Middle English cneden, English to knead; a Gothic *knidan, or rather *knudan (compare treten), ‘to knead,’ may be assumed; Scandinavian has only a weak knoða, pointing to Gothic *knudan. Since High German t, Low German, English, and Gothic d may have originated in t owing to earlier positions of the accents (compare Vater, Anglo-Saxon fœder, with Latin pater, Greek πατήρ), gnet may be regarded as the pre-Teutonic root. Compare Old Slovenian gnetą, gmesti, ‘to crush, knead.’