How Cnut became Canute (and how Harthacnut became Airdeconut)

This article discusses the development of the spelling for the name of Cnut the Great, Viking king of England from 1016 to 1035, from <Cnut> to <Canute>. The origin of this polysyllabic spelling is uncertain and has been attributed to taboo deflection, the simplification of the consonant cluster /kn/ in English and even a pope’s inability to pronounce the name Cnut. A survey of both documents contemporary to Cnut the Great and later chronicles, however, suggests that the polysyllabic spelling is found first in sources of Norman origin. As such, the polysyllabic spelling <Canute> should be considered a romanisation. This conclusion has important implications for a recently found, early tenth-century coin, bearing the inscription “AIRDECONUT”.