The story
- Middle English · inherited fromknottil
- English todayknottle
From Middle English knottil, cnottel (“little knot”), diminutive of knotte, cnotte (“knot”), equivalent to knot + -le. Cognate with Middle Dutch knuttel, Middle Low German knutel, Middle High German Knüttel (“little stick”). Compare also Old English cnyttels (“string, fiber, sinew”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.