innotesco

Forms

innōtēscō (present infinitive innōtēscere, perfect active innōtuī); third conjugation, no supine stem^[1] A spelling innōtīscō is found in late and medieval texts.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + nōtēscō (“to become known”).^[4][1] The simple verb belongs to the family of nōscō (“to get to know”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *gnōske- and Proto-Indo-European *ǵnh₃-sḱé- (“to get to know”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears in Augustan writers: Livy has quod ubi innōtuit, “when this became known”, and Ovid says that a girl became known through his books.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

The verb was used of facts that become known,^[4] and of people who become noted or famous, whether by fraud (Phaedrus), by a scandalous picture (the painter Ctesilochus in Pliny the Elder) or by crimes (Valerius Maximus).^[4][6] Jurists use it impersonally with an infinitive clause, as when a guardian learns that he is guardian,^[2] and Ammianus Marcellinus of daylight growing clear.^[6][2]

In Late Latin it also became transitive, “to make known”,^[2][1] a use Wiktionary labels as stigmatized;^[1] Cassiodorus has it of people reporting themselves.^[2] Medieval writers used it for becoming known, standing out, and announcing or making known.^[3]

Timeline

• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of something that becomes known.^[6][7]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid says a girl became known through his books.^[4][7]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder says a painter became known by a scandalous picture.^[4][7]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it of daylight becoming clear.^[6][7]
• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus uses it transitively.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (of facts) To become known.^[4][6]
2. (of people) To become noted or famous; to become familiar.^[4]
3. (of light) To become clear.^[6][2]
4. (Late Latin, transitive) To make known, reveal.^[2][1][3]

Related words

• nōtēscō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de