cut: [13] There is no direct evidence that Old English had the word cut – the Old English terms were sceran ‘shear’, ceorfan ‘carve’, and hēawan ‘hew’ – but many etymologists have speculated that a pre-Conquest *cyttan did exist. Forms such as Norwegian kutte ‘cut’, Swedish kåta ‘whittle’, and Icelandic kuta ‘cut with a knife’ suggest an origin in a North Germanīc base *kut-.
