Etymologically
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internosco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪn.tɛrˈnoːs.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [in.terˈnɔs.ko][1]

Forms

internōscō (present infinitive internōscere, perfect active internōvī, supine internōtum); third conjugation[1] The perfect infinitive is internōsse in Plautus and Fronto.[2][3] Horace divides it as inter-noscere across a line end.[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin inter- + nōscō (“to get to know”).[2][1] De Vaan lists it among the compounds of nōscō, which goes back to Proto-Italic *gnōske- and Proto-Indo-European *ǵnh₃-sḱé- (“to get to know”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,[4][3] meaning to tell apart: in the Amphitruo a speaker says “so that you can tell us apart more easily”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Plautus also uses it of twins so alike that their own mother could not tell them apart.[5] A line of Pacuvius quoted in the Rhetorica ad Herennium says that fortune cannot distinguish the worthy from the unworthy.[5] Cicero has the second sense, picking out from others: dogs cannot pick out thieves, but give warning of anyone who comes to the Capitol at night.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for telling people apart.[2][6]
  • 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses it of fortune unable to tell worthy from unworthy.[5][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for picking out from others.[2][6]
  • 100–170 AD – Fronto has the perfect infinitive internōsse.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To recognize the difference between, distinguish, tell apart.[2][5]
  2. To pick out from others, discern.[2]

Usage notes

Its synonym is dīnōscō.[1]

References

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