leornungcniht

• leorningcniht

leornung +‎ cniht

• IPA^(key): /ˈle͜or.nunɡˌknixt/, [ˈle͜orˠ.nuŋɡˌkniçt]

leornungcniht m

1. a youth engaged in study: student, apprentice, disciple
   • Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church

     Hī hæfdon him mid fela leorningcnihta, of þām hī hādodon mæssepreostas and diāconas, and fela ċircan ārǣrdon.

     They had with them many disciples, from whom they ordained priests and deacons, and founded many churches.

• Various words for “disciple” were used depending on dialect. King Alfred, writing in late 9th century Early West Saxon, preferred ġingra. The translator of Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, writing around the same time period but in partly West Saxonized Mercian, favored discipul, a borrowing from Latin discipulus. Leornungcniht was the word used by the two most prolific authors of Old English, Ælfric and Wulfstan, who both wrote in Late West Saxon: Ælfric from about 989 to 1010, Wulfstan from about 996 to 1023.

Strong a-stem:

• leornere

• Middle English: lerning-knight
• → English: learning-knight