Etymology Dictionary

KNOWLEDGE,  assured belief, information, skill.  (E.; with Scand. suffix.)   M.E. knowlege, Chaucer, C. T. 12960; spelt knoweliche, knowleche in Six-text ed., B. 1220.   In the Cursor Mundi, 12162, the spellings are knaulage, knawlage, knauleche, knowleche.   The d is a late insertion; and -lege is for older -leche.   For know-, see Know.   As to the suffix, it is a Scand., not an A.S. form; the ch is a weakened form of k as usual; and -leche stands for -leke, borrowed from Icel. -leikr or -leiki (= Swed. -lek), occurring in words such as kærleikr, love (= Swed. kärlek), sannleikr, truth, heilagleiki, holiness.   β. This suffix is used for forming abstract nouns, much as -ness is used in English; etymologically, it is the same word with Icel. leikr (Swed. lek), a game, play, sport, hence occupation, from the verb leika, to play, cognate with A.S. lácan, Goth. laikan, to play, and still preserved in prov. E. laik, to play, Southern E. lark, a piece of fun, where the r is inserted to preserve the length of the vowel.   The A.S. sb. lác is cognate with Icel. leikr, and is also used as a suffix, appearing in wed-lác = mod. E. wedlock.   γ. It will now be seen that the -ledge in knowledge and the -lock in wedlock are the same suffix, the former being Northern or Scandinavian, and the latter Southern or Wessex (Anglo-Saxon).   See further under Lark (2), Wedlock.   δ. It may be added that the compound knáleiki actually occurs in Icelandic, but it is used in the sense of 'prowess;' we find, however, a similar compound in Icel. kunnleikr, knowledge.   Der. acknowledge, a bad spelling of a-knowledge; see Acknowledge.