#51062 - Kneeled vs. knelt

Katya · Post by **Katya** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 6:23 am

http://theboard.byu.edu/index.php?area=viewall&id=51062

The process of replacing an irregular form of a word with a regular one is called analogical leveling. So, if "kneel/knelt/knelt" changes to "kneel/kneeled/kneeled" by analogy with other modern nouns, that's analogical leveling.

The process can also go in reverse, where a word with a formerly regular ending becomes more irregular. (E.g., the past participle of "dive" was "dived" long before it was "dove.") This phenomenon is called analogical extension. Interestingly, this also happened with "kneel," where the past participle was "kneeled" (or something similar) from our earliest records of the word up until the 19th century, when it changed to "knelt," probably by analogy with a word such as "feel/felt/felt."

So.

(1) "Kneeled" is actually the older form. Shakespeare and Chaucer both used it, and it's what appears in the KJV. Dickens, however, used "knelt" (and it's what appears in the BoM).

(2) If "knelt" is indeed turning back into "kneeled," it's a case of analogical leveling. However, I don't see any evidence that it is; a Google search turns up four times as many hits for "knelt down" as "kneeled down."

Humble Master · Post by **Humble Master** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:57 am

And this is why we miss having Katya write for the Board.

Werf_Must · Post by **Werf_Must** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 2:53 pm

Wow! I find it interest how fluid the language is--it makes me wonder what kind of changes are going on today (other than kneeled/knelt). Thank you for the information!