Middle English. Either from early Scandinavian, or the reflex of an unattested Old English word from the same Germanic base, as is perhaps suggested by the number of cognates in other West Germanic languages: Middle Dutch niesen (Dutch niezen), Middle Low German nēsen, neysen, neesen, etc., Old High German niesan, niosan, niusan (German niesen). The Germanic base is probably an imitative formation: relations outside Germanic, and the nature of any possible relationship with the base of fnese, are uncertain.