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> In Russian, the verb that means discover or recognize also contains the verb to know. The English very nearly does as well. The "gn" in "recognize" has the s
by harryposner 7y ago
> In Russian, the verb that means discover or recognize also contains the verb to know.
The English very nearly does as well. The "gn" in "recognize" has the same etymological root [1] as the "kn" in "know"---and as the "зн" in "сознать" (recognize) and "знать" (know). It's not quite as obvious as in the Russian, but "acknowledge" means nearly the same thing as "recognize" and includes "know" as a substring.
[1] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/%C7%B5neh%E2%82%83- https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-Eur...
- ggambetta 7y agoAlso same root as "cognition". Similar in Spanish, "reconocer" and "conocer" (which also means "to meet", i.e. to know for the first time).
- jacobolus 7y agoAccording to Wiktionary the early Latin word was gnōscere. Old English had cnawan and cunnan. Besides “know”, etc., modern English words “can”, “cunning”, “canny”, etc. also come from this root.
- grekain1 7y agoPerhaps in German it is even more obvious. "to recognize" => "zu erkennen" "to know" => "zu kennen" (alternatively, "zu wissen")