connaître

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kɔ.nɛtʁ/^[1]

Forms

connaître^[1] Old French conoistre; the spelling with -ai-, proposed by Berain in 1675 and defended by Voltaire, was adopted by the Académie only in 1835.^[2][3] Since the 1990 spelling reform connaitre is also accepted.^[4][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French conoistre, inherited from Latin cognōscō (“to get to know; to recognize; to have carnal knowledge of”), which in part of the Romance area became “conoscere” under the influence of the simple verb nōscō (“to get to know”).^{[2][5][6][1][7]} Like all Latin verbs in “-scō” it was inchoative, “to come to know”, but its perfect meant “to know”, the sense that passed into French.^[5] “Nōscō” goes back to the Indo-European root of “know”, also seen in Ancient Greek γνῶσις (gnôsis), German kennen and English know.^[8]

Wiktionary notes that “connaître” is one of the few words in which Old French ⟨oi⟩ became /ɛ/ (spelled ⟨ai⟩) rather than /wa/.^[1] Cognate with Romanian cunoaște, Italian conoscere, Catalan conèixer, Spanish conocer and Portuguese conhecer.^[8][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1050 in the Vie de saint Alexis, of a person one has seen or been with, and also in the sense “to recognize”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to recognize”, still found in the 17th century, was given up because it was ambiguous and was taken over by reconnaître, like “to acknowledge the superiority of” (1080) and “to tell one thing from another” (late 12th century); the former returned in ne connaître que “to acknowledge only” (1835).^[5][2] “To know of, have an idea of” became the main sense.^[5]

The biblical sense “to have sexual relations with” is found in 1170 (Livre des Rois).^[2][5] From 1160 connaître also meant to know a field of knowledge, se connaître (about 1230) took on a philosophical weight from know thyself, and se connaître à, then en (1268), and s'y connaître meant “to be expert in”.^[5][2][9] The legal connaître de “to have jurisdiction over” (1549) left the phrase en connaissance de cause.^[5] About 1175 the verb also took the sense “to experience” (connaître la faim).^[2][5]

Timeline

• c. 1050 – Conoistre in the Vie de saint Alexis.^[2]
• 1080 – Conoisance “knowledge”.^[5]
• 1160–1174 – “To have knowledge of a field”, in Wace.^[2]
• c. 1170 – Connaître une femme in the Livre des Rois.^[2]
• c. 1175 – “To experience, feel”, in Chrétien de Troyes.^[2]
• 1268 – Se connaître en “to be expert in”.^[2][5]
• 1549 – Legal connaître de.^[2]
• 1835 – The Académie adopts the spelling connaître.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To know, have knowledge of (a fact, a subject): connaître un mot, connaître l'histoire.^[8][3]
2. To know, be acquainted with (a person): Je le connais depuis dix ans.^[1][10]
3. To know (a place), be familiar with: connaître Paris.^[1][8]
4. To experience, go through: connaître la faim, connaître le succès.^[1][5]
5. S'y connaître, se connaître en: to be an expert in.^[1][5]
6. Ne connaître que: to acknowledge only: Il ne connaît que son devoir.^[5][2]
7. (law) Connaître de: to have jurisdiction over.^[1][4]
8. (archaic) To know sexually.^[1][5]

Word family

• connaissance
• connu
• connaissable
• connaissement
• connaisseur
• inconnu
• méconnaître

Related words

• reconnaître
• Latin cognōscō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 844a
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette