Etymologically
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pernosco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɛrˈnoːs.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [perˈnɔs.ko][1]

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]

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