accognosco

Forms

accognōscō (present infinitive accognōscere, perfect active accognōvī, supine accognitum); third conjugation^[1] Also spelled adcognōscō.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- + cognōscō (“to get to know, recognise”).^[2][1] De Vaan traces ⟨nōscō⟩ to Proto-Italic *gnōske-, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵnh₃-sḱé- (“to know”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Gaffiot's earliest source is Varro's Rēs rūsticae.^[4] Köbler dates Varro 116–27 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to recognise, by sight or otherwise, to know perfectly, as in Varro, Seneca, Petronius and Tertullian.^[2][6][4]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it.^[4][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it.^[4][5]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it.^[6][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To recognise, know perfectly.^[2][6]

Related words

• cognōscō
• agnōscō

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press