20:56 - 2005-04-05
In Which the Quest is Brought to Conclusion
Remember the entry where I was all upset about finding the root for the word "connaitre"?
Well, I have the root, courtesy of the Academie Francaise, but I don't like the answer I've been given. It maketh no sense.
The Academie Francaise, definitive resource for all things pertaining to the French language, lists the root of connaitre as "cognoscere." This, while lovely, doesn't seem to fit. The closest one comes it "cogitum" the perfect passive participle of the verb. I looked at cognoscere when I first started wondering about this and rejected it because it doesn't seem to fit and quite frankly, it still doesn't. I'm now wondering to what degree the word mixed with local dialects during its formation and which local dialects were the ones with influence.
Dammit, I don't want to spend all my time at Swarthmore. But more and more, I think I'd really love linguistics. I wonder what's being offered next year.
