KNAVE (O.E. cnafa, cognate with Ger. Knabe, boy)  , originally a male child, a boy (Chaucer, Canterbury Tales: " Clerk's Tale," 1 . 388) . Like Lat . Auer, the word was early used as a name for any boy-or lad employed as a servant, and so of male servants in general (Chaucer: " Pardoner's Tale," 1 . 204) . The current use of the word for a man who is dishonest and crafty, a rogue, was however an early usage, and is found in Layamon (c . 1205) .