Origin of the phrase "knock on wood"?

To touch wood or knock on wood is a superstition action to ward off any evil consequences or bad luck, perhaps because of some recent action you’ve taken or untimely boasting about your good fortune (“I’ve never been in danger of drowning, touch wood”); it can also be a charm to bring good luck.

The origin is unknown, though some writers have pointed to pre-Christian rituals involving the spirits of sacred trees such as the oak, ash, holly or hawthorn. There is, I’m told, an old Irish belief that you should knock on wood to let the little people know that you are thanking them for a bit of good luck. There’s also a belief that the knocking sound prevents the Devil from hearing your unwise comments. Others have sought a meaning in which the wood symbolises the timber of the cross, but this may be a Christianisation of an older ritual. It wasn’t always wood that was lucky: in older days, iron was also thought to have magical properties, and to touch iron was an equivalent preventative against ill-fortune.

The phrase itself is relatively modern, as the oldest citation for the British version of the phrase, touch wood, that I can find dates only from 1899. The American equivalent knock on wood is roughly contemporary, with my first example from 1905.

Meaning

The phrase voiced by people who rap their knuckles on a piece of wood hoping for good luck. In the UK the phrase 'touch wood' is used.

Origin

May be the association that wood and trees have with good spirits in mythology, or with the Christian cross.

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RE:

Origin of the phrase "knock on wood"?

I know I've heard the story before but have completely forgotten about it! Anyone know the origin of the phrase?

Knock on wood is the Americanized phrase of the British "Touch Wood." Touch wood itself can be traced back to the druids and their Groves wherein they would touch the wood of the trees during rituals and prayer. This goes back to the 3 digit years C.E.

What I was told growing up is that Jesus died on a wooden cross, so when you say "knock on wood", you're,in a way, trying to get the power of the True Cross to help something not to happen to you.

In Washington State, trees are sacred because there s so many of them. Knocking on wood is a call for luck from the sacred element to ward off evil & evil spirits. Hence, bringing good luck.

back along time ago (like, when ppl wore armour and thought that was cool),... people beleived that there were gnomes that liked to stir up evil. but they LIVED in wood. so, when u said something good that was going on, you would knock on wood, to scare the gnomes away from stirring up bad. (short sweet version)

My last name is Wood. So I guess that is why people keep knocking on me!!

It has to do with the cross that Jesus was nailed to. Knock on wood (symbolic) it to protect yourself. (So I've heard)

dont know but i LOVE the mighty mighty bosstones song "knock on wood" it is great. :-)

i know that is of no help.. but i had to express my love for a band that is no more!