The Origin of the Cognoscenti

Hello,

If the cognoscenti are people who know things, the ones in the know, then do you know the singular of cognoscenti?

It’s cognoscente, which you might have been able to deduce if you learned Latin or Italian at school. Or perhaps you’re a language cognoscente and just know these things?

Sherlock was a cognoscente of knowledge and sleuthing

The word cognoscente describes a connoisseur, an aficionado. You might be a cognoscente of Italian opera, Korean pop music, or Irish artisan cheeses. To be one you’d want to know your stuff in a big way. You’d be expert, enthused, and steeped in knowledge.

Cognoscente (and cognoscenti) joined English in the late 1700s as a direct borrowing from Italian into English and it has been with us ever since. The Italians had inherited it from Latin as conoscente which translated literally as knowing man from the Latin term for connoisseur – cognoscentum. Cognoscentum was formed from the verb cognoscere (to recognise or get to know) and ultimately from the joining of com (together) and gnoscere (to know).

Co (or com) give us modern terms like co-worker and co-conspirator – people you work or scheme with.

Gnoscere traces back to gno, a root word whose influence we can discern in terms like ignorant, cognition, incognito – all related to knowing, or not knowing, something.

If you were to join the cognoscenti, what would be your area of deep knowledge? Something to ponder.

Until next time, happy reading, writing, and wordfooling,

Grace (@Wordfoolery)