cognitus

Latin

Etymology

Perfect passive participle of cognōscō (“know, recognise”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkoɡ.ni.tus/, [ˈkɔŋnɪt̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkoɲ.ɲi.tus/, [ˈkɔɲːit̪us]

Participle

cognitus (feminine cognita, neuter cognitum, superlative cognitissimus); first/second-declension participle

1. known (from experience), having been known; recognised, having been recognised; acquainted, having been acquainted

   Synonym: nōtus

   Antonym: incognitus

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 5.525–526:

     ‘cāra fuit coniūnx, prīmae mihi flōre iuventae
     cognita, nunc ubi sit, quaeritis? urna tegit’

     “There had been a dear wife, having been known to me in the flower of early youth. You ask, where is she now? The urn covers [her].”
     (Hyrieus replies to Jupiter’s offer to grant him any wish. See: Hyrieus; Orion (mythology).)

2. noted, acknowledged, having been acknowledged

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	cognitus	cognita	cognitum		cognitī	cognitae	cognita
genitive	cognitī	cognitae	cognitī		cognitōrum	cognitārum	cognitōrum
dative	cognitō	cognitae	cognitō		cognitīs
accusative	cognitum	cognitam	cognitum		cognitōs	cognitās	cognita
ablative	cognitō	cognitā	cognitō		cognitīs
vocative	cognite	cognita	cognitum		cognitī	cognitae	cognita

Descendants

• Franco-Provençal: coindo
• Old French: cointe, coynte, cuente, cuinte, kointe, quaint, quainte, quaynt, queint, queinte, quente, quint, quointe
  • → Middle English: queynte, cwointe, cuinte, cwuinte, quoynte, queinte, quaynt, quaynte, quoynt, queint, coynte, queynt, qwaynte, quaint
    • English: quaint
    • Scots: quent (obsolete)

Noun

cognitus m (genitive cognitūs); fourth declension

1. acquaintance (act of getting to know one)

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	cognitus	cognitūs
genitive	cognitūs	cognituum
dative	cognituī	cognitibus
accusative	cognitum	cognitūs
ablative	cognitū	cognitibus
vocative	cognitus	cognitūs

References

• “cognitus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “cognitus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• cognitus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• cognitus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to have a theoretical knowledge of a thing: ratione, doctrina (opp. usu) aliquid cognitum habere
    
  • we know from experience: usu cognitum habemus
    
  • to be well-informed, erudite: multa cognita, percepta habere, multa didicisse
    
  • without going to law: indicta causa (opp. cognita causa)