cognosco

cognosco

1. (obsolete) first-person singular present indicative of cognoscere

• conōscō (Late Latin)

From con- (prefix indicating completion) +‎ gnōscō (“to know”).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /koɡˈnoːs.koː/, [kɔŋˈnoːs̠koː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /koɲˈɲos.ko/, [koɲˈɲɔsko]

cognōscō (present infinitive cognōscere, perfect active cognōvī, supine cognitum); third conjugation

1. to learn, to get to know

   Synonyms: agnōscō, inveniō, sentiō, cōnsciō, sapiō, sciō, nōscō, scīscō, intellegō, percipiō, discernō, comperiō, tongeō, cernō, audiō

   Antonyms: ignōrō, nesciō

   ab (or ex) aliqua cognoscere ― to learn from someone

   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 1.21:

     Eodem die ab exploratoribus certior factus hostes sub monte consedisse milia passuum ab ipsius castris octo, qualis esset natura montis et qualis in circuitu ascensus qui cognoscerent misit.

     Having been informed by explorers that the enemy had sat down at the feet of a mount about eight thousand paces away from his camp, he [Julius Caesar] sent men to know what the mount was like and what was its ascent.

   • 405 CE, Jerome, Vulgate Ecclesiastes.3.12–13:

     Et cognovi quod non esset melius nisi laetari et facere bene in vita sua.
     Omnis enim homo qui comedit et bibit et videt bonum de labore suo: hoc donum Dei est.

     And I learned that there's nothing better than to be happy and do good in one's life. Every person who eats and drinks and sees the fruit of work: this is God's gift.

2. to be acquainted (with someone), recognize, apprehend
   • c. 194 BCE, Plautus, Poenulus 1130:

     Giddene(ne)s. "Cognoscin Giddenenem ancillam tuam?". Hanno. Novi.

     "Do you know Giddenes, your servant maid?" "I know her".

3. (in perfect tense) to know, perceive, understand

   Synonyms: comprehendō, dēprehendō, apprehendō, accipiō, concipiō, teneō, apīscor, capiō, complector, excipiō, cōnsequor, exaudiō

   • 86 BCE – c. 35 BCE, Sallust, Jugurtha 79:

     Cyrenenses tardius iere. Id socordiane an casu adciderit, parum cognovi.

     The Cyrenians went late. I know little about whether this event of laziness truly happened.

   • 106 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, Ad Atticum 15.17:

     De consulum ficto timore cognoveram; Sicca enim φιλοστόργως ille quidem sed tumultuosius ad me etiam illam suspicionem pertulit.

     I knew about the consuls' imagined fear; our beloved man Sicca told me of course, even if rather disturbed, about that speculation too.

4. to have sex with, (biblical) to know
   • 43 BCE – c. 17 CE, Ovid, The Heroines 6.133–4:

     Turpiter illa virum cognovit adultera virgo;
     me tibi, teque mihi, taeda pudica dedit.

     Shamelessly, she lay with a man as an adulterous virgin, (but) a chaste wedding torch gave me to you, and you to me.

   • 405 CE, Jerome, Vulgate Genesis.4.1:

     Adam vero cognovit Havam uxorem suam, quae concepit et peperit Cain

     Adam knew his wife Eve, who conceived and gave birth to Cain

¹The verb "nōscō" and its compounds frequently drop the syllables "vi" and "ve" from their perfect, pluperfect and future perfect conjugations.

• accognōscō
• cognitiō
• incognitus
• praecognōscō
• recognōscō

• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: connoschere, connosciri
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: cognoscere (Old Lucchese), chignoscere (Gombitelli)
• North Italian:
  • Istriot: cugnussi
  • Friulian: cognossi, cognoši
  • Old Lombard: cognosser
    • Lombard: cognoss, cognèss
  • Piedmontese: cognòsse
  • Romansch: cugnuoscher
  • Venetian: cognosar
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Asturian: coñocer
  • Navarro-Aragonese: conyoscer
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: connocer
    • Fala: coñocel
    • Galician: coñecer
    • Portuguese: conhecer
  • Old Spanish: connoçer
• Borrowings:
  • → English: cognosce
  • → Scots: cognosce

Relexes of the Late Latin variant conōscō:

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: cunoscu
  • Megleno-Romanian: cunos
  • Romanian: cunoaște
• Italo-Romance:
  • Corsican: cunnosce

    Sassarese: cunnisci

  • Italian: conoscere, conósciare (Old Arretine)
  • Neapolitan: canoscere (medieval), canósce (Matera)
  • Sicilian: cunùsciri, canùsciri
• North Italian:
  • Piedmontese: conòsse
  • ⇒ Romansch: encanoscher
  • Venetian: conosar
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: conèixer
  • Old French: conoistre (see there for further descendants)
  • Occitan: conóisser, conéisser, conéisher
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: conoixer, conoxer, coneixer
  • Asturian: conocer
  • Spanish: conocer

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “cognoscere”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 2: C Q K, page 848

• “cognosco”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “cognosco”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• cognosco in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to study Plato: Platonem legere et cognoscere
    
  • to hold an inquiry into a matter: aliquid, causam cognoscere
    
• cognosco in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• cognosco in Enrico Olivetti, editor (2003-2024), Dizionario Latino, Olivetti Media Communication