A knout is a heavy
scourge
A scourge is a whip or lash, especially a multi-thong type, used to inflict severe corporal punishment or self-mortification. It is usually made of leather.
Etymology
The word is most commonly considered to be derived from Old French ''escorgi ...
-like multiple
whip
A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...
, usually made of a series of
rawhide thongs attached to a long handle, sometimes with metal wire or hooks incorporated. The English word stems from a spelling-pronunciation of a French transliteration of the Russian word кнут (''knut''), which simply means "whip".
The original
![Наказание кнутом](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/%D0%9D%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5_%D0%BA%D0%BD%D1%83%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BC.jpg)
Some claim it was a
Tatar
The Tatars ()[Tatar]
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different invention and was introduced into Russia in the 15th century, perhaps by Grand Duke
Ivan III the Great
Ivan III Vasilyevich (russian: Иван III Васильевич; 22 January 1440 – 27 October 1505), also known as Ivan the Great, was a Grand Prince of Moscow and Grand Prince of all Rus'. Ivan served as the co-ruler and regent for his blin ...
(1462–1505). Others trace the word to
Varangian
The Varangians (; non, Væringjar; gkm, Βάραγγοι, ''Várangoi'';[Varangian]
" Online Etymo ...
s and derive it from the
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
''knutpiska'', a kind of whip with ''knots''. Still others maintain it is of generic
Germanic origin, not necessarily Scandinavian, comparing it with the German ''Knute'', Dutch ''knoet'' (both meaning knout) and with Old Norse ''knutr'', Anglo-Saxon ''cnotta'' and English ''knot''.
The Russian knout had different forms. One was a lash of rawhide, long, attached to a wooden handle, long. The lash ended in a metal ring, to which was attached a second lash as long, ending also in a ring, to which in turn was attached a few inches of hard leather ending in a beak-like hook. Another kind consisted of many thongs of skin plaited and interwoven with wire, ending in loose wired ends, like the
cat-o-nine tails.
A variation, known as the ''great knout'', consisted of a handle about long, to which was fastened a flat leather thong about twice the length of the handle, terminating with a large copper or brass ring to which was affixed a strip of hide about broad at the ring, and terminating at the end of in a point. This was soaked in milk and dried in the sun to make it harder.
Knouts were used in Russia for flogging as formal
corporal punishment of criminals and political offenders. The victim was tied to a post or on a triangle of wood and stripped, receiving the specified number of strokes on the back. A sentence of 100 or 120 lashes was equivalent to a death sentence. Even twenty lashes could maim, and with the specially extended Great Knout, twenty blows could kill, with death sometimes being attributed to the breaking of the spine.
The executioner was usually a criminal who had to pass through a probation and regular training, being let off his own penalties in return for his services.
Peter the Great
Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
is traditionally accused of knouting his son
Alexis Alexis may refer to:
People Mononym
* Alexis (poet) ( – ), a Greek comic poet
* Alexis (sculptor), an ancient Greek artist who lived around the 3rd or 4th century BC
* Alexis (singer) (born 1968), German pop singer
* Alexis (comics) (1946–1977 ...
to death; the latter was tortured by knouting to extract confessions.
Emperor
Nicholas I abolished the punishment by knout in 1845, and replaced it with the ''pleti'',
lashes with three thongs which could end in lead balls. They were later abolished throughout Russia and reserved for the
penal settlements, mainly in Siberia. Prisoners transported to Siberia in the late 19th century were sometimes branded on their foreheads with irons with the letters VRNK meaning V thief, R robber, and NK punished by the knout. This branding led to the Siberian slang word "varnok", meaning either a settler or deportee.
Elsewhere and metaphoric use
The instrument became synonymous in Western European languages with what was seen as the tyrannical cruelty of the autocratic government of Russia, much as the ''
sjambok
The sjambok () or litupa is a heavy leather whip. It is traditionally made from an adult hippopotamus or rhinoceros hide, but is also commonly made out of plastic.
A strip of the animal's hide is cut and carved into a strip long, tapering fro ...
'' brought to mind the
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
government of South Africa or the
bullwhip
A bullwhip is a single-tailed whip, usually made of braided leather or nylon, designed as a tool for working with livestock or competition.
Bullwhips are pastoral tools, traditionally used to control livestock in open country. A bullwhip's leng ...
was associated with the period of
slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
and
Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...
in America.
The expression "under the knout" is used to designate any harsh
totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and reg ...
, and by extension its equivalent in a private context, e.g., a grim patriarch ruling his household "with an iron rod". In Dutch, "onder de knoet houden" is commonly used for strict party discipline, e.g., eliminating actual debate when passing a law (compare the
whip function in English).
See also
*
Nagaika
The nagaika (russian: нага́йка, ) is a short, thick whip with round cross-section used by Cossacks, borrowed from Nogai people, hence the original name "nogaika", or "Nogai's whip". It is also called камча, kamcha from the Turkic word ...
References
*
External links
* {{Wiktionary-inline, knout
Whips