cognition

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English cognicioun,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Latin cognitiō (“a getting to know, acquaintance, knowledge”),^[6][7][2][8] a noun of action formed from cognitus, the past participle of cognōscō (“to get to know, recognize, investigate”).^[6][2][3][8] The MED gives Old French as a second source beside Latin.^[5] The Latin verb is formed from co-, which the American Heritage Dictionary and Collins take as intensive and Etymonline as "together",^[3][9][2] and gnōscō (“to know”), the older form of nōscō,^[10][9][11] from Proto-Indo-European *gnō- (“to know”).^[2][3] It is related to know^[9][8] and can.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The ability to understand; comprehension, knowledge: 1447, in Bokenham's lives of saints, of a saint "illumined with clear cognition" in her soul.^[5][6] Barnhart finds it probably before 1425, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, the action or faculty of knowing, or knowledge in general, lasted until the late 18th century and is now obsolete except in philosophy.^[6] Johnson (1755) defined it as "knowledge; complete conviction", quoting Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida: "I will not be myself nor have cognition Of what I feel".^[12] In the 17th century the meaning was widened to take in perception and sensation;^[2] from 1651 philosophers used it for knowing in the widest sense, including sensation, perception and conception, as distinct from feeling and will.^[6][11] Merriam-Webster still sets it apart from affection and conation.^[4] From the early 19th century it was also a single product of this faculty, a perception or notion (Shelley, before 1822).^[6] In law, chiefly in Scotland, it was used from 1523 for jurisdiction or judicial notice, like cognizance, and Scots law later had a process of cognition to settle disputed boundaries, and cognition and sale for selling the land of a person unable to manage it.^[6][4]

Timeline

• 1447 – comprehension, knowledge.^[5][6] Barnhart finds the word probably before 1425, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon.^[7]
• 1523 – law, judicial notice or jurisdiction, chiefly Scottish.^[6]
• 1651 – philosophy, the faculty of knowing in its widest sense.^[6]
• 1655 – recognition, gratitude (rare, obsolete).^[6]
• 1820 – apprehension, perception.^[6]
• before 1822 – a single perception, notion or intuition.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The mental process of acquiring knowledge and understanding, through perception, intuition and reasoning: Too little sleep can slow cognition.^[9][4][6]
2. Knowledge, or a single perception or idea, produced by that process.^[9][4][6]
3. (Scots law) The judicial determination of a right or matter of fact.^[4][6]
4. (obsolete, 1447–1796) Knowledge or awareness in general; acquaintance with a subject.^[6][12]

Word family

• cognitional
• metacognition
• noncognition
• precognition

Related words

• cognitive
• cognizant
• recognize
• cognizance
• cognosce
• recognition
• know
• can

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.