Unnumbered source etymology
Original entry ↗Something that could happen, or could be the case, under different circumstances; a potentiality.
simple past of can · Used as a past subjunctive (contrary to fact). · Used to politely ask for permission to do something. · Used to politely ask for someone else to do something.
From Middle English coude, couthe, cuthe, from Old English cūþe, past indicative and past subjunctive form of cunnan (“to be able”) (compare related cūþ, whence English couth). Cognate with German konnte, Swedish kunde. The -l- in the spelling was added in the early 16th century by analogy with should and would; this analogy formerly affected the pronunciation as well and was probably assisted by the tendency for /l/ to be lost in those words (and so not written, leading to shudd, wode, etc).
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
This page abbreviates 3 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
{
"templates": [
{
"name": "root",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "*ǵneh₃-"
},
"expansion": ""
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "coude"
},
"expansion": "Middle English coude"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ang",
"3": "cūþe"
},
"expansion": "Old English cūþe"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "de",
"2": "konnte"
},
"expansion": "German konnte"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "sv",
"2": "kunde"
},
"expansion": "Swedish kunde"
}
],
"links": [
[
"coude",
"coude#Middle_English"
],
[
"couthe",
"couthe#Middle_English"
],
[
"cuthe",
"cuthe#Middle_English"
],
[
"cūþe",
"cuþe#Old_English"
],
[
"cunnan",
"cunnan#Old_English"
],
[
"cūþ",
"cuþ#Old_English"
],
[
"couth",
"couth#English"
],
[
"konnte",
"konnte#German"
],
[
"kunde",
"kunde#Swedish"
],
[
"should",
"should#English"
],
[
"would",
"would#English"
]
],
"references": [],
"descendants": [],
"lexical": [
{
"pos": "noun",
"glosses": [
"Something that could happen, or could be the case, under different circumstances; a potentiality."
],
"tags": [],
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},
{
"pos": "verb",
"glosses": [
"simple past of can",
"Used as a past subjunctive (contrary to fact).",
"Used to politely ask for permission to do something.",
"Used to politely ask for someone else to do something."
],
"tags": [
"form-of",
"past"
],
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"lexicalSenses": 3,
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}