英语词汇knuckle under的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

Let him quarrel no more, but knock under the table. This anonymous verse, from the late 17th century, suggests that our expression to knuckle under, or “to admit defeat,” derives from an earlier British phrase, to knock under. People in taverns apparently rapped on the under side of the table when beaten in an argument. But another equally reasonable theory con- nects the term with an ancient form of submission to one’s con- queror. As a token of submission a person fell to his knees. Since knuckles in Anglo-Saxon and Medieval English meant the knee joints as well as the joints of the fingers, this would ac- count for the phrase.

词汇	knuckle under
词源	knuckle under. He that flinches his Glass, and to Drink is not able. Let him quarrel no more, but knock under the table. This anonymous verse, from the late 17th century, suggests that our expression to knuckle under, or “to admit defeat,” derives from an earlier British phrase, to knock under. People in taverns apparently rapped on the under side of the table when beaten in an argument. But another equally reasonable theory con- nects the term with an ancient form of submission to one’s con- queror. As a token of submission a person fell to his knees. Since knuckles in Anglo-Saxon and Medieval English meant the knee joints as well as the joints of the fingers, this would ac- count for the phrase.
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