pernosco

Forms

pernōscō (present infinitive pernōscere, perfect active pernōvī, supine pernōtum); third conjugation^[1] An archaic spelling is ⟨pergnōscō⟩,^[2] and Plautus has once ⟨percognōscō⟩.^[3] Shortened perfect forms are ⟨pernōram⟩ in Plautus and ⟨pernōstī⟩ in Terence.^[3][2] The participle ⟨pernōtus⟩ is used as an adjective, well known.^[4]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- (“thoroughly”) + nōscō (“to get to know”).^[5][3] De Vaan traces nōscō to Proto-Italic *gnōske- and Proto-Indo-European *ǵnh₃-sḱé- (“to know”).^[6] Cognate with Ancient Greek γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō, “to know”), Sanskrit जानाति (jānā́ti, “knows”) and Lithuanian žinóti (“to know”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Plautus on, seven times, though Zwierlein thinks all of them spurious, and then in Terence and Cicero;^[3] in Plautus' Bacchides a speaker had not known the greedy host's character thoroughly.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

It means to get to know thoroughly, and in the perfect to know well.^[5][2] Plautus has pernovi equidem ingenium tuum, “I know your character well”, and Terence uses it of examining a question closely, whether a theft was committed.^[4][7] Lucretius uses it of learning thoroughly,^[7] and Cicero of reading men's character from the body, the eyes and the face, and of the stirrings of the mind that the orator must know through and through.^[4][2]

The participle ⟨pernōtus⟩, well known, occurs in Curtius, of a boxer known to the king for his strength, and in Pomponius Mela and Minucius Felix.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the perfect of knowing a character well.^[4][8]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of examining a question closely.^[4][8]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of learning thoroughly.^[7][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the orator's knowledge of feelings.^[4][8]
• 1st century AD – Curtius uses ⟨pernōtus⟩ of a well-known boxer.^[4][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To become thoroughly acquainted with, get to know well; to examine thoroughly.^[5][4]
2. (perfect) To know well, be thoroughly conversant with.^[5][2]

Related words

• nōscō
• cognōscō
• dignōscō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d 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 j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de