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 November 23, 2012
 
Word of the Week--"knead"
Definition--to massage (flesh) with firm finger-movements.
Discussion--Knead is a "kneat" word pronounced the same as "need". You need the word knead both to describe a massaging finger movement and using that movement to make a uniform mass, as in kneading bread dough.
Etymology--Knead comes from the Middle English kneden which comes from the Old English cnedan. These terms are believed to be derived from the Indo-European base, gen-, which means to compress into a ball. The English term is probably a derivative of the Germanic term, kneth.
You can see these roots below in the German and Dutch equivalents. The Romance languages (French and Spanish) don't have a direct equivalent; they are based on the French term masser, from the Arabic mass, which means to touch or handle. The Italian term is based on the word for dough.
Foreign Translations German:
durchkneten
Dutch:
kneden
French:
(muscle) masser,
(dough) pétrir Italian:
impastare
Spanish:
amasar, masajear
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