different between athame vs knife

English

Etymology

From the non-word arthame from a French manuscript. Arthame is either from a misreading of handwritten Italian arctrave, which is a variant of architrave (“main beam”), or from corruptions of the Medieval Latin word artavus (“quill-sharpening knife”). Artavus was also mistranslated into the non-word artauo in an Italian manuscript. The arthame was conflated with the cortel nero ("black knife") by the author Grillot de Givry in 1931, and that conflation was passed on to Gerald Gardner (the creator of Wicca).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??????.me?/, /?????.me?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /????.me?/, /????.me?/, /?æ.???me?/

Noun

athame (plural athames)

1. A ceremonial pointed knife or dagger, used especially in Wicca and other neopagan traditions and having a black handle with magical symbols on it. [from 20th c.]
   • James R. Lewis, Witchcraft Today: An Encyclopedia of Wiccan and Neopagan Traditions (page 22)

     The athame is a black-handled ritual knife—one of the most common distinguishing marks of the Neopagan Witch. Gerald Gardner, in Witchcraft Today, called the athame one of the three most essential tools of the Witch.

Alternative forms

• athamé

Translations

Anagrams

• Tehama, hamate

English

Alternative forms

• (noun): knyfe (obsolete)
  • (plural): knifes (nonstandard)
• (verb): knive (uncommon)

Etymology

From Middle English knyf, knif, from late Old English cn?f, from Old Norse knífr (compare Danish/Swedish/Norwegian kniv), North Frisian Knif from Proto-Germanic *kn?baz (compare Low German Knief, Luxembourgish Knäip (“penknife”)), from *kn?pan? (“to pinch”) (compare Dutch knijpen, Low German kniepen, Old High German gniffen), from Proto-Indo-European *gneyb?- (compare Lithuanian gnýbti, žnýbti (“to pinch”), gnaibis (“pinching”)). Replaced Middle English sax (“knife”) from Old English seax (“knife, dagger”), and replaced Middle English coutel, qwetyll (“knife”) from Old French coutel (“knife”).

The verb knife is attested since the mid 1800s; the variant knive is attested since 1733.

Pronunciation

• enPR: n?f, IPA^(key): /na?f/
• Rhymes: -a?f

Noun

knife (plural knives)

1. A utensil or a tool designed for cutting, consisting of a flat piece of hard material, usually steel or other metal (the blade), usually sharpened on one edge, attached to a handle. The blade may be pointed for piercing.
   • 2007, Scott Smith, The Ruins, page 273

     Jeff was bent low over the backboard, working with the knife, a steady sawing motion, his shirt soaked through with sweat.

2. A weapon designed with the aforementioned specifications intended for slashing and/or stabbing and too short to be called a sword. A dagger.
3. Any blade-like part in a tool or a machine designed for cutting, such as that of a chipper.

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Portuguese: naifa
• Sranan Tongo: nefi

Translations

See also

• athame
• bayonet
• bistoury
• cake slice, cake-slice
• dagger
• poniard
• scalpel
• stiletto
• knife on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

knife (third-person singular simple present knifes, present participle knifing, simple past and past participle knifed)

1. (transitive) To cut with a knife.
2. (transitive) To use a knife to injure or kill by stabbing, slashing, or otherwise using the sharp edge of the knife as a weapon.
3. (intransitive) To cut through as if with a knife.
4. (transitive) To betray, especially in the context of a political slate.
5. (transitive) To positively ignore, especially in order to denigrate. compare cut

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Finke

Middle English

Noun

knife

1. Alternative form of knyf