An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Knospe

by Friedrich Kluge

Knospe, f., ‘bud,’ from MidHG. knospe, m., ‘protuberance’; the modern meaning is one of the varied senses in earlier ModHG.; ‘protuberance’ is the prim. signification, hence it is natural to connect Knospe etymologically with Knopf; the latter is to be represented in Goth. by *knuppa-, the former by *knuspan- for *knufspan-; in that case -span would be a suffix; *knaspan- may, however, stand for *knusspan-, and be connected with the root knus appearing in Knorre.