My guess is "Knöpfchen" (German for "little button"). The "chen" suffix is difficult to pronounce for English speakers, so it's replaced by the word "keys" (as in the buttons of a keyboard)
Another detail you didn't mention: knopp or knoppe is a Low German (northern German) variant of Standard German Knopf. That's where the pf--pp alternation arises.
My guess is "Knöpfchen" (German for "little button"). The "chen" suffix is difficult to pronounce for English speakers, so it's replaced by the word "keys" (as in the buttons of a keyboard)
> The "chen" suffix is difficult to pronounce for English speakers, so it's replaced by the word "keys" (as in the buttons of a keyboard)
Not quite. The -ke ending here is just another regional variant of the diminutive. The s at the end is a colloquial plural form.
So the transformation from German to this weird german-english would be:
Knöpfe - Knöpfchen - Knöppkes - Cnoeppkes
Another detail you didn't mention: knopp or knoppe is a Low German (northern German) variant of Standard German Knopf. That's where the pf--pp alternation arises.
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Кнопки (k-nope-key) is Russian for "buttons". Maybe related.
There are so many words in our language that are very clear loan-words from German!
Definitely means buttons. Source: am German
Although it is not needed, the first line of this article confirms that meaning:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Knopf
And the article is interesting anyway.
Knob? https://www.etymonline.com/word/knob#etymonline_v_1916