knew

«knew» in Mova's early modern english dictionary: recognised; had intimate knowledge of — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

kind

archaic sense

modern equivalent

recognised; had intimate knowledge of

part of speech

verb, past tense of know

meaning for a pupil

To be aware of someone or to recognise them; in the third sentence, to have chosen or loved someone before they were born. tree →

how it differs from today

Today "knew" means to understand or be aware of something. The third sentence uses an old sense, meaning to have a close, chosen bond with a person, and "knew" in the first sentence is closer to "recognised".

examples

• And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew him not. (Torah GEN.42.8, JPS 1917) tree →
• No one knew what to do. (Fifty Famous Stories Retold) tree →
• Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee." Rabbi Luria, gives the Hebrew version which I have translated. (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893) tree →

tests

manual 10.3; corpora 1896 (Torah 30, tales 1863, Sefer Yetzirah 3); EWT 23; ratio 4.6 (Torah alone 1.5); Wiktionary no archaic label

In the corpora

• And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his youngest son had done unto him.
• And the younger arose, and lay with him; and he knew not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
• And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew him not.
• And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for the interpreter was between them.
• Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «knew» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.