In words like knife and knight, where did the "K" came from ?

I am not an English native speaker so this may sound dumb. in words like knife and knight , where did the "K" came from ?

 


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yoavdothan
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Both words are very old , long before the modern English: 

The word knife is old ; here are its origins:

Origin: bef. 1100; Middle English knif, Old English cn?f; c. Dutch  knijf, German Kneif, Old Norse kn?fr] 

Even today , in Norwegian Danish and Swedish its kniv

The word knight is even older:

[Origin: bef. 900; Middle English ; Old English cniht  c. German, Dutch knecht ]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight#Etymology

So here we see that the letter c changed to k

See here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_english#The_alphabet
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OlThor
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yoavdothan's answer is a very good one.  Also, in Middle English, the -gh- in 'knight' was also pronounced, much like the -ch- in the German word knecht. 

<tangent> Reform English spelling?  Never.  Do so and we will lose a beautiful way of understanding and recognizing etymology. </tangent>

 
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brosen
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England was conquered by many peoples, such as the Romans, Normans, Saxons and each made some contribution to the English language. Most of the words in English having a silent "k" were introduced by the Saxons, a Germanic people.

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