cognoscentia

Forms

cognōscentia f (genitive cognōscentiae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is derived from cognōscō (“to get to know”) through its participle cognōscēns, with the suffix -ia.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Old Latin Bible (Itala), in Paul's “O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God” (Romans 11:33), where the Vulgate has scientia.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Marius Victorinus quotes the same verse with cognoscentia and uses the word himself, saying that God is above all being, all life and all knowledge.^[2][4] It remained a word of Christian authors,^[1] and medieval writers used it for knowledge and experience.^[5][6]

Timeline

• after 220 AD – The Itala uses it for “knowledge” in Romans 11:33.^[2][3]
• 1st half of the 4th century AD – Marius Victorinus uses it of the knowledge of God.^[2][4][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Knowledge, cognition, the act of knowing.^[2][1][5]
2. (Medieval Latin) Experience, skill.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
2. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
5. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften