Note 196 — Chapter XXII · ETHELRED THE REDELESS.

The name of this well-known historical personage was undoubtedly Knut or Cnut. It is so written both in the Scandinavian Sagas and in the English Chronicle. But the Latinised form Canutus preserves the remembrance of a helping vowel which may have been often used, even by contemporaries, at least in England. At this day the Danish name Knothe is always pronounced Kinnoté in Northumberland. The important point is to remember that the accent is on the last syllable: Canúte, not Cánute.