cunoștință

Forms

cunoștință f (plural cunoștințe)^[1] The variant conoștință occurs in old texts, for instance in the Pravila of Govora.^[2][3] In the 17th century the sense “acquaintance” had a masculine plural: „cunoștinții miei mă uitară pre mine” “my acquaintances forgot me”.^[3] Moldavian also has the plural cunoștinți beside cunoștințe.^[4]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian cunoaște + -ință.^[5][4][6][1] Cunoaște is inherited from Latin cognōscō (“to get to know”), through a popular form *connōscō.^[7][8] The sense “acquaintance, person one knows” follows French connaissance, according to DEX.^[5] Wiktionary compares Late Latin cognōscentia and Italian conoscenza.^[1] The word has a counterpart south of the Danube: Aromanian cunuștință.^[2]

The 17th-century word for “acquaintances”, cunoștințe, may continue the Latin participle cognōscēns, as Cipariu, Drăganu and the DA held, and Tiktin suggests that a masculine singular of this form lies behind the old plural.^[7][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to the Palia de la Orăștie of 1581–1582, Exodus 31:3, where it means knowledge, understanding.^[2][3] MDA2's first record is Dosoftei's metrical psalter of 1671.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The first senses were the faculty of knowing and understanding, and in old texts also acknowledgement and submission, and gratitude, the sense of today's recunoștință.^[2][5][7] Antim Ivireanul and the chroniclers use it for awareness of one's own faults or conscience.^[3] The 17th-century lexicons render Slavonic words for “true understanding” with it.^[9]

The sense “person one knows” is recorded from the 17th century;^[3][5] a face cunoștință means “to make someone's acquaintance”.^[3][5] In the plural cunoștințe means the body of knowledge one has in a field.^[5][4] Set phrases include a aduce la cunoștința publică “to make known to the public” and a-și pierde cunoștința “to lose consciousness”.^[5][3]

Timeline

• 1581-1582 – first record, in the Palia de la Orăștie.^[2][3]
• c. 1660-1670 – cunoștințe in the Slavonic–Romanian lexicon Lex.St.^[9]
• 1671 – in Dosoftei's metrical psalter.^[4]
• 1840 – încunoștința “to inform”, formed on the noun.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. knowledge, awareness of something: a lua cunoștință de ceva “to take note of something”;^[5][4][1] în cunoștință de cauză “knowing the facts”.^[5][4][1]
2. consciousness, the ability to feel and perceive: a-și pierde cunoștința “to faint”.^[5]
3. (in the plural) The body of notions and information someone has in a field: Are cunoștințe solide de chimie.^[5][4]
4. An acquaintance, a person one knows: a face cunoștință cu cineva “to get to know someone”.^[5][4][1]
5. (obsolete) Gratitude; recunoștință.^[5][7]

Word family

• necunoștință
• încunoștința

Related words

• cunoaște
• recunoștință
• cunoscut
• Aromanian cunuștință

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. cunoaște
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cunoștință
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 573
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 260
6. ^ Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. cunoștință
7. ^ a b c d Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. cunoaște
8. ^ Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 68
9. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. cunoștințe