Etymologically
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conoscere

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Pronunciation

  • /koˈnoʃ.ʃe.re/[1]

Forms

conoscere (first-person singular present conósco, first-person singular past historic conóbbi, past participle conosciùto, auxiliary avére)[1] Old forms include cognoscere and canoscere.[2][3][4] Old Sicilian texts have cannusciri.[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *conōscere, the spoken form of classical Latin cognōscō (“to get to know”), from co- and nōscō (“to get to know”).[6][7][8][9][2] Wiktionary takes the shorter form as Late Latin.[1] The past ⟨conobbi⟩ continues a spoken ⟨*conovui⟩ for the classical perfect ⟨cognōvī⟩.[9]

The same verb is French connaître, Occitan coneiser, Catalan conèixer, Spanish conocer, Portuguese conhecer, Sardinian connòschere and Romanian cunoaște.[8][10] The DÉRom reconstructs it with three variants of the first syllable, in /kogn-/, /konn-/ and /kon-/.[11] The LEI finds the ⟨cogn-⟩ type in Friulian, Engadine, Old Spanish, Old Portuguese, Sardinian and northern and central Italy, and the ⟨con-⟩ type in Romanian, French, Occitan, Catalan, Spanish and most of Italy.[12]

The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”), with the present suffix ⟨*-sḱé-⟩.[13] Related words are Ancient Greek γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō), Lithuanian žinoti, Russian знать (znatʹ) and English know.[8][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Proverbia que dicuntur, a Venetian poem of the late 12th century.[5] In Tuscany the form cognoscere appears in the Breve di Montieri of 1219, and conoscere in Giacomo da Lentini before 1250, with the sense “to grasp with the mind, to know something”.[6]

Semantic evolution

The LEI orders the early senses as “to learn, know, distinguish”, then “to acknowledge the worth of something”, and slightly later “to recognize a person, to be acquainted”; the biblical sense “to have sexual relations” goes back through Greek and Latin to Hebrew.[12] DELI dates “to be on familiar terms with someone” to Dino Compagni (1310–1312).[6] Dante uses the verb for making something out at a distance: conobbi il tremolar de la marina (“I made out the trembling of the sea”, Purgatorio I).[14]

Today it also means “to meet someone for the first time”, as in piacere di conoscerla “pleased to meet you”, and in law a court conosce a case when it examines it.[7][3][9] The idiom conoscere i propri polli “to know one's chickens” means to know whom one is dealing with.[14][3]

Timeline

  • Late 12th century – The Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur use the verb.[5]
  • 1219 – Cognoscere appears in the Breve di Montieri.[6]
  • Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini writes conoscere.[6]
  • Before 1292 – Conoscimento “knowledge” appears in Bono Giamboni.[6]
  • 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses the verb for “to be acquainted with”.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To know of something, to be aware of it: Conosci un buon meccanico in zona?[7][2][3]
  2. To have knowledge of a subject or a skill: Conosce bene il tedesco.[7][2][9]
  3. To experience: Da giovane ha conosciuto la povertà.[9][3][2]
  4. To know a person; to meet someone for the first time: Li ho conosciuti a una festa.[7][2][1]
  5. To recognize: Con quella barba non ti conoscevo.[9][3][1]
  6. (law) Of a court, to examine and judge a case.[9]
  7. (literary, archaic) To have sexual relations with someone.[9][3]

Word family

Usage notes

Conoscere qualcuno di vista is to know someone by sight only, and conoscere qualcuno di fama by reputation.[7][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  4. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  5. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  7. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  8. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  11. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
  12. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 15, 526
  13. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  14. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli