Nope
ken usually means know. I don't really understand why that is lol, the weirdest one I know of is for eyes, we say "een". Strange when I think about it.
( baw__bag contains traces of nuts on, Mon 22 Mar 2010, 19:14, 1 reply)

cos
it's from the Norse. Same with the lovely Dundonian/Fife substitution of 'jamp' for 'jumped.'
(jennymnemonic, Mon 22 Mar 2010, 19:14, closed)

Norse, but also maybe Friesk or some other such Germanic language
I'm learning Dutch at the moment (don't ask...) and "kennen" means "to understand" and there are a number of other similarities.

My girlfriend was listening to two blokes speaking some heavily colloquial form of scots English, almost bordering on Scots itself, and for a moment she swore they were speaking Dutch - she could even understand what they were saying.

English's closest relative is Scots, then it's Friesk (and then I think Dutch), it just so happens that even after 1000 years the English north of the border has less French than that south of it.
(Frozen_Banana Shaved against the grain; thoroughly unrewarding., Mon 22 Mar 2010, 19:22, closed)

the english cognate of
ken/kennen/kunnen/koennen etc is can

makes sense when you think "I know how to do something" is the same as "I can do something".
( Sextant goes to him is emotionally erect, on this day, Mon 22 Mar 2010, 22:52, closed)