KNEBEL

knebel, karl ludwig von (1744-1834), german poet and translator, was born at the castle of wallerstein in franconia on the 30th of november 1744. after having studied law for a short while at halle, he entered the regiment of the crown prince of prussia in potsdam and was attached to it as officer for ten years. disappointed in his military career, owing to the slowness of promotion, he retired in 1774, and accepting the post of tutor to prince konstantin of weimar, accompanied him and his elder brother, the hereditary prince, on a tour to paris. on this journey he visited goethe in frankfort-on-main, and introduced him to the hereditary prince, charles augustus. this meeting is memorable as being the immediate cause of goethe's later intimate connexion with the weimar court. after knebel's return and the premature death of his pupil he was pensioned, receiving the rank of major. in 1798 he married the singer luise von rudorf, and retired to ilmenau; but in 1805 he removed to jena, where he lived until his death on the 23rd of february 1834. knebel's _sammlung kleiner gedichte_ (1815), issued anonymously, and _distichen_ (1827) contain many graceful sonnets, but it is as a translator that he is best known. his translation of the elegies of propertius, _elegien des properz_ (1798), and that of lucretius' _de rerum natura_ (2 vols., 1831) are deservedly praised. since their first acquaintance knebel and goethe were intimate friends, and not the least interesting of knebel's writings is his correspondence with the eminent poet, _briefwechsel mit goethe_ (ed. g. e. guhrauer, 2 vols., 1851). knebel's _literarischer nachlass und briefwechsel_ was edited by k. a. varnhagen von ense and t. mundt in 3 vols. (1835; 2nd ed., 1840). see hugo von knebel-doberitz, _karl ludwig von knebel_ (1890). knee (o.e. _cneow_, a word common to indo-european languages, cf. ger. _knie_, fr. _genou_, span, _hinojo_, lat. _genu_, gr. [greek: gonu], sansk. _janu_), in human anatomy, the articulation of the upper and lower parts of the leg, the joint between the femur and the tibia (see joints). the word is also used of articulation resembling the knee-joint in shape or position in other animals; it thus is applied to the carpal articulation of the fore leg of a horse, answering to the ankle in man, or to the tarsal articulation or heel of a bird's foot.