Etymologically
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dinosco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [diːˈnoːs.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [diˈnɔs.ko][1]

Forms

dīnōscō (present infinitive dīnōscere, perfect active dīnōvī, supine dīnōtum); third conjugation[1] The spelling dīgnōscō is common in manuscripts.[2] The TLL finds it mostly in those from the 8th–9th century on, the older ones having dīnōscō.[3] Lewis & Short call dīgnōscō the old form.[4]

Etymology

It is from Latin dis- + nōscō (“to get to know”).[2][1][3] De Vaan traces the simple verb to Proto-Italic *gnōske- and Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”); it is cognate with Ancient Greek γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō), Sanskrit जानाति (jānā́ti, “to know, recognize”) and Lithuanian žinóti (“to know”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short think it perhaps not older than Augustus.[4] Horace asks who would distinguish a citizen from an enemy (quī cīvem dīnōsceret hoste).[2][4][6] Köbler dates Horace 65–8 BC.[7]

Semantic evolution

Ovid writes of twin cubs so alike that you could hardly tell them apart (vix ut dīnōscere possīs).[2][4] Seneca uses it of telling good from evil, Columella of a mother bird that cannot tell her own chicks from others', and Juvenal of telling true goods.[2][6] With an ablative it means to recognize by something: Quintilian has aera tinnītū, bronze by its ring.[4][6] It also means simply to discern or make out: Suetonius, in his life of Otho, says a small wig was fitted so that no one could tell it apart.[2][6]

Timeline

  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of telling a citizen from an enemy.[2][4][7]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of twins hard to tell apart.[2][4][7]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of distinguishing good and evil.[2][6][7]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of knowing bronze by its ring.[4][6][7]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of discerning a wig.[2][6][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To know apart, distinguish (from: ablative or ab).[2][4][6]
  2. To make a distinction in or with regard to.[2]
  3. To recognize as distinct, discern, make out.[2][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ 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 f g h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de