Etymologically
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riconoscere

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Pronunciation

  • /ri.koˈnoʃ.ʃe.re/[1]

Forms

riconoscere (first-person singular present riconósco, first-person singular past historic riconóbbi, past participle riconosciùto, auxiliary avére)[1] Old forms include reconoscere, ricognoscere and racconoscere.[2][3][4] Wiktionary also records ricoscere.[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin recognōscō (“to recognize; to review”), formed with the intensive prefix re- from cognōscō (“to get to know”), the source of conoscere.[2][3][5][6] Devoto notes that the verb was influenced by the simple Italian verb.[7] The same verb is French reconnaître, Catalan reconèixer, Spanish reconocer, Portuguese reconhecer and Romansh arcognuoscher in the Engadine.[3][8]

Of the derivatives, only ricognizione goes back to Latin, to recognitiō, which meant “review” in classical Latin and “recognition” in Late Latin.[2] Riconoscenza comes from Medieval Latin recognoscentia, at first a legal term for acknowledging a debt.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the form reconosere in the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio, from the late 12th century, for recognizing a person or thing already known.[2][3][5] The modern form riconoscere is in Dante (1300–1313).[2]

Semantic evolution

By the end of the 13th century the verb also meant to distinguish something for what it really is (Novellino), and before 1292 Bono Giamboni used it for “admit, confess”.[2] Giovanni Villani used it for declaring something one's own, as one acknowledges a child.[2] In Dante it also means acknowledging what one owes to someone: dal quale io riconosco / tutto... il mio ingegno (“from which I acknowledge all my talent”).[9]

Later senses came from war, diplomacy and law: Machiavelli used it in 1502 for reconnoitring a place, Daniello Bartoli in 1661 for recognizing a state, and Zingarelli in 1970 for the state granting legal personality to a body.[2] The sense “identify” is recorded in 1641.[2] The derivatives riconoscente (before 1311), riconoscenza (14th century), riconoscimento (before 1342) and riconoscibile (1681) followed.[2]

Timeline

  • Late 12th century – The Ritmo di Sant'Alessio has reconosere.[2]
  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses the verb for “admit, confess”.[2]
  • 1300–1313 – Dante uses the form riconoscere.[2]
  • 1502 – Machiavelli uses it for reconnoitring a place.[2]
  • 1641 – The sense “identify” is recorded.[2]
  • 1661 – Daniello Bartoli uses it for recognizing a state.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To recognize, to identify someone or something already known: L'ho riconosciuta subito dal modo di camminare.[5][9][6]
  2. Not to recognize someone any more, of a person who has changed greatly: Da quando lavora in banca non lo riconosco più.[5][9]
  3. To distinguish, to tell apart: Non so riconoscere un fungo velenoso da uno buono.[5][9][6]
  4. To admit, to acknowledge: Riconosco di aver esagerato.[5][6][10]
  5. To accept as legitimate or valid: to recognize a state, a right, a child, someone as leader.[5][6][10]
  6. To judge to be, to find: È stato riconosciuto innocente.[5][9]
  7. To credit, to grant: to recognize years of service, someone's merits.[6][11]
  8. (military) To reconnoitre ground or a route.[10]

Word family

  • riconoscente
  • riconoscenza
  • riconoscibile
  • riconoscimento
  • riconoscitivo
  • riconoscibilità
  • irriconoscibile
  • riconoscersi
  • riconoscitore

Usage notes

Farsi riconoscere means to say who one is when asked, and colloquially to behave badly enough to be noticed.[11][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  10. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana