Meaning

noun the sound of a bell rung slowly to announce a death or a funeral or the end of something

verb ring as in announcing death

verb make (bells) ring, often for the purposes of musical edification

originFrom Middle English knyllen, from Old English cnyllan (“to strike; knock; clap”), from Proto-West Germanic *knuʀlijan, from Proto-Germanic *knuzlijaną (“to beat; push; mash”), from Proto-Indo-European *gen- (“to squeeze, pinch, kink, ball up”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0