cognizance

Forms

• cognisance (UK)

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English conisaunce, also conissaunce and conusaunce,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French conisance, also conusance, variants of conoissance (“acquaintance, recognition; knowledge”),^[5][3][6][7] modern French connaissance,^[3][6] with Anglo-Norman conysance as the Anglo-Norman form.^[3][8] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from the early 12th century, for knowledge, recognition and jurisdiction.^[9] The French noun is formed from conoissant, the present participle of conoistre (“to know”), with the suffix -ance,^[5] and answers to a Romance type that the OED writes Vulgar Latin *cognōscentia and Ayto and Hoad *connōscentia.^[5][10][6] The French verb is from Latin cognōscō (“to get to know, recognize”),^[3][5][11] from co- (“together”) and gnōscō (“to know”),^[3][8][10] from Proto-Indo-European *gno- (“to know”).^[3] Compare Italian conoscenza.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A device or mark by which a person is known, such as a badge or crest: before 1375, in William of Palerne, a poem of about 1350.^[5][3] Barnhart gives the first sense about 1350 as "recognition".^[8] The sense "knowledge, understanding" follows in the Romaunt of the Rose, about 1400.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline and Merriam-Webster Unabridged date the badge sense first, a device by which someone is known.^[3][12] Johnson (1755) quotes Bacon on an earl's servants standing in their livery coats with cognizances.^[13] "Knowledge" is the first sense in the Middle English Dictionary,^[2] and the word occurs in the Romaunt of the Rose and in Gower.^[14] It later narrowed to knowledge gained by observation or information (1635).^[5] The law added the right to hear and try a cause, dated 1523 in the OED but the mid-15th century in Etymonline,^[5][3] as well as the acknowledgement of a fact, from 1576.^[5] Johnson's first sense is already "judicial notice; trial; judicial authority",^[13] and Weekley calls the word chiefly legal except for the heraldic badge.^[4] The OED lists the phrase to take cognizance of under the legal sense,^[5] and Collins glosses it as to take notice of.^[15] The word could also mean official knowledge after 1751.^[5] The spelling with g came from Latin in the 15th century,^[5][16][10] though Dictionary.com says the 16th.^[17] French had the same partial Latinization, cognoissance, from the 13th century, without ever pronouncing the g, and dropped it after 1600.^[5] In English the letter gradually changed the pronunciation.^[5][3][10]

Timeline

• c. 1350 – a device or badge by which someone is known.^[5][3]
• c. 1400 – knowledge, understanding (obsolete by 1651).^[5][3]
• 1523 – the right of hearing and trying a cause; jurisdiction.^[5] Etymonline dates it to the mid-15th century.^[3]
• 1576 – acknowledgement, admission of a fact.^[5] Etymonline dates it to the 1560s.^[3]
• 1590 – recognition (rare), in Spenser.^[5]
• 1602 – a plea in replevin.^[5]
• 1635 – knowledge gained by observation; awareness, notice.^[5]
• 1642 – verb, to have cognizance of.^[5]
• 1751 – official knowledge, authoritative notice.^[5]
• 1786 – the action of taking judicial notice.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Knowledge or awareness, especially as gained by observation: She acted in full cognizance of the risks.^[15][5][7]
2. take cognizance of: to take notice of, or acknowledge, especially officially.^[15][7][5]
3. The range or scope of someone's knowledge or concern.^[15][7]
4. (law) The right of a court to hear and determine a matter; jurisdiction.^[15][5][7]
5. (law) A court's notice of facts that need no proof.^[15]
6. (law) Acknowledgement or admission of a fact.^[5][7]
7. (law, chiefly US) A confession.^[15]
8. Control or supervision.^[12]
9. (heraldry) A distinguishing mark or badge, such as a crest, especially one worn by a knight's followers.^[15][12][5]
10. (obsolete, c. 1400–1651) Knowledge or understanding in general.^[5][12]

Word family

• cognizant
• cognize
• noncognizance
• incognizance

Related words

• recognizance
• cognition
• cognoscente
• connoisseur
• recognize
• know
• notion

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Collins give cognisance as the British spelling.^[12][15] The OED says that the spelling with s is the etymological one, but that z has long prevailed.^[5] The older pronunciation without the /g/, always con- until the Latin spelling affected it, lasted longest in legal use,^[3][8][5] and Collins still gives it as a variant.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ 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.
14. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
17. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House