thane

Note: The traditional etymology for this Germanic word sees it as cognate with Greek téknon "child, young of an animal" (see dystocia), thereby assuming that the meaning "boy" or "youth" is primary. The comparison has been rejected recently on the grounds that a proto-form *tek-no- would yield either *þehna- or *þekka- in Germanic (depending on the position of the accent), not *þegna-. Guus Kroonen (Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Brill, 2013) suggests a derivation from Germanic *þegjan- "to request, entreat," though it would require the sense "man owing his status to a superior, retainer" to be primary and the senses "boy, youth, man" to be secondary—a progression not usually found with semantically similar words.