Knout

Knout, an instrument of punishment introduced into Russia under Ivan III. (1462-1505). It was a whip with a handle 9 inches long and one complex lash, comprising a lash 16 inches long, with a metal ring; a continuation with another ring; and finally, a flat lash of hard leather, 21 inches long, and ending in a beak-like hook. The offender was tied to two stakes, stripped, and received on the back the specified number of lashes; 100 to 120 were equivalent to sentence of death, but in many cases the victim died under the operation long before this number was completed. The whipping was inflicted by a criminal. For the knout Nicholas substituted the pleti, a three-thonged lash, and this was used, save in certain penal settlements, by Alexander II. (Knout is the French spelling of a Russian word spelt by the Germans knut, and by Russians, Germans, and French alike pronounced kěnoot; in English, usually but absurdly nowt).