cogito

Forms

cōgitō (present infinitive cōgitāre, perfect active cōgitāvī, supine cōgitātum); first conjugation^[1] Contracted perfect forms such as cōgitāsse and cōgitārim occur beside the full ones.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + agitō (“to drive, stir; to ponder”),^[3][1] originally “to pursue something in the mind”.^[4] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of agō (“to drive”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *ag-e/o- (“to do, act”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-e/o- (“to drive, lead”).^[5]

Ancient writers saw the same composition: Varro explained the word as a contraction of ⟨co-agitō⟩,^[4] and Augustine said that cōgō and ⟨cōgitō⟩ are related as ⟨agō⟩ and ⟨agitō⟩, or faciō and factitō.^[2] Priscian lists it among the frequentative verbs.^[2] Lewis & Short thought a link with the root of aiō (“to say”) more likely.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,^[5][6] who already has most of its senses:^[3] a man “will not consider whether what he orders is fair or unfair” (nec aequom anne inīquom imperet cōgitābit), and someone is asked “when do you plan to go from here to Carthage?” (quandō hinc īre cōgitās Carthāginem?).^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it covered the whole range of thinking: to think, to think about or ponder, to think out and decide, to hold an opinion, to plan and prepare, to intend, to expect or foresee, and to call to mind.^[3][4] Cato advises that one should think long about building but not think about planting, only do it,^[3] and for Cicero the learned man is one “for whom to live is to think” (cui vīvere est cōgitāre).^[3] With an adverb it expressed good or bad intentions, as male cōgitāre “to mean harm”.^[3]

Church writers used it also for taking counsel and purposing.^[7] Medieval Latin kept the classical senses and gave it a place in philosophy and theology:^[8][9] Alcuin writes homō cōgitat, Deus iūdicat “man thinks, God judges”,^[8] and Anselm defines God as “something than which nothing greater can be thought” (aliquid quō nihil maius cōgitārī possit).^[9] It lived on in Old French cuidier, Spanish cuidar and Romanian cugeta, and was borrowed again as a learned word into French, Italian and English.^[1] English cogitate comes from its past participle.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of thinking, considering and intending.^[3][6]
• 234–149 BC – Cato advises thinking long before building.^[3][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero describes the scholar as one for whom to live is to think.^[3][6]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine explains it as related to cōgō as agitō is to agō.^[2][6]
• 1560s – English cogitate is formed from its past participle.^[10]
• 1644 – Descartes puts his cōgitō, ergō sum into Latin in the Principles of Philosophy.^[1]

Meanings

Verb

1. To think; to think to oneself.^[3][4][1]
2. To think about, ponder, consider.^[3][4][1]
3. To think out, decide by thinking; to deliberate about what to do; to devise.^[3][4]
4. To be of the opinion, think (that).^[3]
5. To think about beforehand, plan, prepare for;^[3] (with dē) to take thought for.^[3]
6. To intend, have in mind, contemplate;^[3][1] (with an adverb) to have good or bad designs.^[3][1]
7. To look forward to, expect; to envisage as possible.^[3]
8. To call to mind, recollect; to bear in mind.^[3]
9. (Medieval Latin) (philosophy and theology) To conceive, form a concept of.^[9][8]

Word family

• cōgitābilis
• cōgitābundus
• cogitamen
• cogitamentum
• cōgitātim
• cōgitātiō
• cogitatorium
• cōgitātum
• cōgitatus
• excōgitō
• incōgitātus
• incōgitō

Related words

• agitō
• agō
• cōgō
• English cogitate

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes it from meditor: cōgitāre is the ordinary activity of the mind, which is always thinking of something, meditārī a sustained and intense effort aimed at a result.^[11]

The phrase cōgitō, ergō sum “I think, therefore I am” is René Descartes's: he first wrote it in French in the Discourse on the Method (1637) and later put it into Latin in the Principles of Philosophy (1644).^[1]

Gaffiot and the TLL give a separate, rare late cōgitō “to compel; to press together”, derived from cōgō, found in some manuscripts of Ammianus, the Vulgate and other late texts.^[2][12]

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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
12. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.