v. Obs. (or ? dial.) [OE. cunnian, -ode, wk. vb., = OS. -cunnôn in gicunnon to learn to know:—OTeut. type *kunnojan, deriv. of kunnan to know (see CAN). Cf. the parallel deriv. forms, Gothic ga-kunnan, kunnaida, to learn to know, and OHG. chunnên, MHG. kunnen to learn to know, investigate, try, test. See also cunner, CONNER, ALE-CONNER, and CON v.]
In OE.: To learn to know, inquire into, explore, investigate; whence a. To have experience of, prove, test, try, make trial of (in OE. with genitive; in ME. sometimes with of); to taste. Obs. or ? dial.
Beowulf, 1021. Þær ʓit wada cunnedon.
c. 888. K. Ælfred, Boeth., v. § 3. Mot ic nu cunnian hwon þinne fæstrædnesse?
a. 1000. Crist, 1418 (Gr.). Uncuþne eard cunnnian.
a. 1000. Sal. & Sat., 227 (Gr.). Cunnað dryhtnes meahta.
c. 1200. Ormin, 834. Ne wollde het næfre cunnenn.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 114. He dude his deorewurðe muð þerto, & smeihte ant cunnede þerof.
1597. Montgomerie, Cherrie & Slae, 646. They sall not than the Cherrie cun, That wald not enterpryse. [‘Still used in this sense in Dumfr.’ (Jamieson, 1808).]
† b. To try to do something. Obs.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 151. Summe to kunnen if heo mihten him mid sunne undernime.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 87. Swiche hertes … cunneð gif he mai þer inne herbergen.
c. 1200. Ormin, 12137. He wollde cunnen swa To brinngenn inn hiss herrte Erþlike þingess lufe & lusst.
a. 1225. St. Marher., 13. Heom þet cunnið to beon cleane.
c. To get to know, to study or learn: see CON v.1 sense 3, of which examples spelt cun, cunne, come down nearly to 1600. In these there was probably a blending of the verbs cunnan, CAN, with this verb.
1425–1580. [see CON v.1 3].
1668. Maynwaring, Compl. Physitian, 67. He sits down and cuns his Lesson.
Cun: see CAN v.1 and 2, CON v.1 and 2.
Cun (ü), obs. form of KIN.
