recognize(v.)

early 15c., recognisen, “resume possession of land,” a back-formation from recognizance, or else from Old French reconoiss-, present-participle stem of reconoistre “to know again, identify, recognize,” from Latin recognoscere “acknowledge, recall to mind, know again; examine; certify,” from re- “again” (see re-) + cognoscere “to get to know, recognize” (see cognizance).

With ending assimilated to verbs in -ise, -ize. The meaning “know (the object) again, recall or recover the knowledge of, perceive an identity with something formerly known or felt” is recorded from 1530s. Related: Recognized; recognizing.

AI Overview:  The word “recognize” comes from Latin, combining the prefix re- (“back again”) and the root cognoscere (“to know”). It entered English in the early 15th century via the Old French reconoistre (“to know again”) and fundamentally means to know or identify something or someone from prior experience. 

Breakdown of the word’s origin:

• Latin: The ultimate source is the Latin verb recognoscere, which means “to know again, acknowledge, or examine”. 
• Old French: This Latin word was adopted into Old French as reconoistre, meaning “to know again”. 
• Middle English: The word entered English through Anglo-French, initially as recognisen or racunnysen, which could mean to “resume possession of land” or to know something again. 
• Modern English: The word evolved to the modern form “recognize,” with its primary meaning of identifying something or someone previously encountered

understand(v.)

Old English understandan “comprehend, grasp the idea of, achieve comprehension; receive from a word or words or from a sign or symbol the idea it is intended to convey;” also “view in a certain way,” probably literally “stand in the midst of,” from under + standan “to stand” (see stand (v.)).

If this is the meaning, the under is not the usual word meaning “beneath,” but from Old English under, from PIE *nter- “between, among” (source also of Sanskrit antar “among, between,” Latin inter “between, among,” Greek entera “intestines;” see inter-). Related: Understood; understanding.

That is the suggestion in Barnhart, but other sources regard the “among, between, before, in the presence of” sense of Old English prefix and preposition under as other meanings of the same word. “Among” seems to be the sense in many Old English compounds that resemble understand, such as underfinden “be aware, perceiver” (c. 1200); undersecan “examine, investigate, scrutinize” (literally “underseek”); underðencan “consider, change one’s mind;” underginnan “to begin;” underniman “receive.” Also compare undertake, which in Middle English also meant “accept, understand.”

It also seems to be the sense still in expressions such as under such circumstances. Perhaps the ultimate sense is “be close to;” compare Greek epistamai “I know how, I know,” literally “I stand upon.”

Similar formations are found in Old Frisian (understonda), Middle Danish (understande), while other Germanic languages use compounds meaning “stand before” (German verstehen, represented in Old English by forstanden “understand,” also “oppose, withstand”). For this concept, most Indo-European languages use figurative extensions of compounds that literally mean “put together,” or “separate,” or “take, grasp” (see comprehend).

The range of spellings of understand in Middle English (Middle English Compendium lists 70, including understont, understounde, unþurstonde, onderstonde, hunderstonde, oundyrston, wonderstande, urdenstonden) perhaps reflects early confusion over the elements of the compound. Old English oferstandan, Middle English overstonden, literally “over-stand” seem to have been used only in literal senses.

By mid-14c. as “to take as meant or implied (though not expressed); imply; infer; assume; take for granted.” The intransitive sense of “have the use of the intellectual faculties; be an intelligent and conscious being” also is in late Old English.

In Middle English also “reflect, muse, be thoughtful; imagine; be suspicious of; pay attention, take note; strive for; plan, intend; conceive (a child).” In the Trinity Homilies (c. 1200), a description of Christ becoming human was that he understood mannish.

Also sometimes literal, “to occupy space at a lower level” (late 14c.) and, figuratively, “to submit.” For “stand under” in a physical sense, Old English had undergestandan.

AI Overview:  The word “recognize”

• Origin: It comes from the Old English word understandan. 
• Components: The Old English under here meant “among” or “between,” not “beneath,” while standan meant “to stand”. 
• Meaning: The literal meaning was to “stand among” or “stand in the midst of” something. 
• Evolution: This metaphorical “standing among” the elements of a concept developed into the modern meaning of “to comprehend” or “to grasp an idea”

comprehend(v.)

mid-14c., “to understand, take into the mind, grasp by understanding,” late 14c., “to take in, include;” from Latin comprehendere “to take together, to unite; include; seize” (of catching fire or the arrest of criminals); also “to comprehend, perceive” (to seize or take in the mind), from com “with, together,” here probably “completely” (see com-) + prehendere “to catch hold of, seize.”

The (partial) range of senses in Latin prehendere was “to lay hold of, to grasp, snatch, seize, catch; occupy violently; take by surprise, catch in the act; to reach, arrive at;” of trees, “to take root;” of the mind, “to seize, apprehend, comprehend,” though this last sense is marked “very rare” in Lewis & Short.

It is a compound of prae- “before” (see pre-) + -hendere, found only in compounds, from PIE root *ghend- “to seize, take.” De Vaan regards the compound as Proto-Italic. Related: Comprehended; comprehending.

Compare the sense development in German begriefen, literally “to seize,” but, through the writings of the 14c. mystics, “to seize with the mind, to comprehend.”

AI Overview:  The English word “comprehend” comes from the Latin word comprehendere, meaning “to take together, unite, seize, or grasp”. This Latin verb is a combination of com- (“with, together”) and prehendere (“to catch hold of, seize”). The root prehendere itself comes from the Proto-Indo-European root ghend-, meaning “to seize, take”. Over time, the metaphorical sense of “seizing” information with the mind developed, leading to the English meaning of “to understand” or “grasp by understanding”. 

Here’s a breakdown of its etymology: 

• Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root: ghend- “to seize, to take”.
• Latin: prehendere “to catch hold of, seize”.
• Latin: comprehendere “to take together,” combining com- (with, together) and prehendere.
• Middle English: comprehenden mid-14th century.
• Modern English: comprehend with the sense of understanding or taking into the mind.

know(v.)

Old English cnawan (class VII strong verb; past tense cneow, past participle cnawen), “perceive a thing to be identical with another,” also “be able to distinguish” generally (tocnawan); “perceive or understand as a fact or truth” (opposed to believe); “know how (to do something),” from Proto-Germanic *knew- (source also of Old High German bi-chnaan, ir-chnaan “to know”), from PIE root *gno- “to know.”

For pronunciation, see kn-. Once widespread in Germanic, the verb is now retained there only in English, where it has widespread application, covering meanings that require two or more verbs in other languages (such as German wissen, kennen, erkennen and in part können; French connaître “perceive, understand, recognize,” savoir “have a knowledge of, know how;” Latin scire “to understand, perceive,” cognoscere “get to know, recognize;” Old Church Slavonic znaja, vemi). The Anglo-Saxons also used two distinct words for this, the other being witan (see wit (v.)).

From c. 1200 as “to experience, live through.” The meaning “to have sexual intercourse with,” also found in other modern languages, is attested from c. 1200, from the Old Testament (Genesis iv.1). Attested from 1540s in colloquial phrases suggesting cunning or savvy (but often in the negative).

As far as (one) knows “to the best of (one’s) knowledge” is late 14c. Expression God knows is from c. 1400. To know too much (to be allowed to live, escape, etc.) is from 1872. To know better “to have learned from experience” is from 1704.

As an expression of surprise, what do you know attested by 1914. Don’t I know it in the opposite sense (“you need not tell me”) is by 1841.

know(n.)

“inside information,” 1883, in in the know, from know (v.) Earlier it meant “knowledge, fact of knowing” (1590s).

AI Overview:  The word “know” comes from the Old English word cnāwan, which meant “to know, perceive, or recognize”. This, in turn, derived from the Proto-Germanic knew- and ultimately traces back to the Proto-Indo-European root \`ǵneh₃-\`, meaning “to know”. The “k” was once pronounced, but the sound was lost over time, particularly during the Middle English period. 

Tracing the word’s path:

• Proto-Indo-European (PIE): The original source is \`ǵneh₃-\`. 
• Proto-Germanic: This PIE root evolved into \`knew-\` or \`knē-\`. 
• Old English: The word became cnāwan or gecnāwan. 
• Middle English: From Old English, it became knowen or knawen. 
• Modern English: The word evolved into its current form, “know”. 

Cognates:

The same PIE root \`ǵneh₃-\` is the source of other words related to “to know” in different languages: 

• Latin: gignōskein (Greek), noscere (Latin)
• German: kennen and können
• Sanskrit: jñātá

remember(v.)

mid-14c., remembren, “keep or bear (something or someone) in mind, retain in the memory, preserve unforgotten,” from Old French remembrer “remember, recall, bring to mind” (11c.), from Latin rememorari “recall to mind, remember,” from re- “again” (see re-) + memorari “be mindful of,” from memor “mindful” (from PIE root *(s)mer- (1) “to remember”).

The meaning “recall to mind, bring again to the memory” is from late 14c.; the sense of “to mention” is from 1550s. Also in Middle English “to remind” (someone), “bring back the memory of” (something to someone); “give an account, narrate,” and in passive constructions such as hit remembreth me “I remember.” An Anglo-Saxon verb for it was gemunan.

The insertion of -b- between -m- and a following consonant (especially where a vowel has dropped out) is regular: compare number (n.), chamber (n.), humble (adj.).

Remember implies that a thing exists in the memory, not that it is actually present in the thoughts at the moment, but that it recurs without effort. Recollect means that a fact, forgotten or partially lost to memory, is after some effort recalled and present to the mind. Remembrance is the store-house, recollection the act of culling out this article and that from the repository. He remembers everything he hears, and can recollect any statement when called on. The words, however, are often confounded, and we say we cannot remember a thing when we mean we cannot recollect it. [Century Dictionary, 1895]

In complimentary messages, “remember (one) to (another), recall one to the remembrance of another,” as in remember me to your family, is attested from 1550s.

AI Overview:  The word “remember” comes from the Latin root memor, meaning “mindful”. It evolved through Old French remembrer to Middle English remembren and entered English in the mid-14th century, with its meaning essentially being to “keep in mind” or “recall to mind”. 

Step-by-step breakdown:

• Latin root: The core of “remember” is the Latin word memor, which means “mindful” or having a good memory. 
• Late Latin rememorari : This verb means “to call to mind again” and is formed from re- (meaning “again”) and memorari (“to be mindful”). 
• Old French remembrer : The Late Latin verb was borrowed into Old French as remembrer, also meaning “to remember, recall, or bring to mind”. 
• Middle English remembren : In the 14th century, this Old French word was adopted into Middle English as remembren, retaining its original meaning of keeping something in mind or preserving it unforgotten. 
• Modern English “remember”: Over time, the word has stayed remarkably consistent in its core meaning, with the “member” part of the word simply being the result of the full word’s historical development. 

memory(n.)

late 13c., “recollection (of someone or something); remembrance, awareness or consciousness (of someone or something),” also “fame, renown, reputation;” from Anglo-French memorie (Old French memoire, 11c., “mind, memory, remembrance; memorial, record”) and directly from Latin memoria “memory, remembrance, faculty of remembering,” abstract noun from memor “mindful, remembering,” from PIE root *(s)mer- (1) “to remember.”

Sense of “commemoration” (of someone or something) is from c. 1300. Meaning “faculty of remembering; the mental capacity of retaining unconscious traces of conscious impressions or states, and of recalling these to consciousness in relation to the past,” is late 14c. in English. Meaning “length of time included in the consciousness or observation of an individual” is from 1520s. 

AI Overview:  The word “memory” comes from the Middle English memorie, ultimately from the Latin word memoria, meaning “remembrance” or “faculty of remembering”. It derives from the Latin word memor, meaning “mindful” or “remembering,” which traces back to the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)mer- (1), meaning “to remember”.  

Detailed Breakdown:

• Latin root: The ultimate source is the Latin word memoria. 
• memor : Memoria is an abstract noun derived from the Latin adjective memor. 
• memor: meaning: Memor means “mindful” or “remembering”. 
• Proto-Indo-European root: Memor itself comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)mer- (1), which means “to remember”. 
• Anglo-French Connection: The word entered English through Anglo-French memorie, and directly from the Latin memoria. 

This linguistic journey shows how “memory” has been a central concept across cultures, connecting words for remembrance, mindfulness, and the act of remembering itself. 

destiny(n.)

mid-14c., “fate, over-ruling necessity, the irresistible tendency of certain events to come about; inexorable force that shapes and controls lives and events;” also “that which is predetermined and sure to come true,” from Old French destinée “purpose, intent, fate, destiny; that which is destined” (12c.), noun use of fem. past participle of destiner, from Latin destinare “make firm, establish” (see destination).

The sense is of “that which has been firmly established,” as by fate. Especially “what is to befall any person or thing in the future” (mid-15c.). In Greek and Roman mythology, personified as the three Fates or powers supposed to preside over human life.

destination(n.)

1590s, “act of appointing, designation,” from Latin destinationem (nominative destinatio) “purpose, design,” from past-participle stem of destinare “determine, appoint, choose, make firm or fast,” from de- “completely, formally” (see de-) + -stinare (related to stare “to stand”) from PIE *steno-, suffixed form of root *sta- “to stand, make or be firm.”

From 1650s as “purpose for which anything is intended or appointed.” Meaning “predetermined end of a journey, voyage, or transmission” (1813) is short for place of destination (1787) “place to which a thing is appointed or directed.”

AI Overview:  The word “destiny” originates from the Latin word destinare, meaning “to determine” or “to decide,” and entered English in the 14th century via the Old French word destinée. It entered the language from the past participle of the verb destiner, meaning “to destine”. 

Etymology Breakdown

• Latin Root: The Latin verb destinare means “to determine,” “to appoint,” or “to make firm”. 
• Old French: The word moved from Latin to Old French as destinée, the noun form of the past participle of the verb destiner. 
• English Entry: The word entered English in the 14th century. 

Meaning Evolution

• Early Use (1590s): The earliest recorded use of the word was in the late 16th century, referring to the “act of appointing” or “designation”. 
• 17th Century: By the 1650s, its meaning broadened to include the “purpose for which anything is intended or appointed”. 
• Later Meanings: By the 18th century, it also referred to the “predetermined end of a journey or voyage,” which evolved from the idea of a place of destination. 
• Modern Meaning: Today, “destiny” most commonly refers to a predetermined course of events, or fate

inspiration(n.)

c. 1300, “immediate influence of God or a god,” especially that under which the holy books were written, from Old French inspiracion “inhaling, breathing in; inspiration” (13c.), from Late Latin inspirationem (nominative inspiratio), noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin inspirare “blow into, breathe upon,” figuratively “inspire, excite, inflame,” from in- “in” (from PIE root *en “in”) + spirare “to breathe” (see spirit (n.)). ,

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. [Genesis ii.7]

The sense evolution seems to be from “breathe into” to “infuse animation or influence,” thus “affect, rouse, guide or control,” especially by divine influence. Inspire (v.) in Middle English also was used to mean “breath or put life or spirit into the human body; impart reason to a human soul.” Literal sense “act of inhaling” attested in English from 1560s. Meaning “one who inspires others” is attested by 1867.

Entry linked to inspiration

spirit(n.)

mid-13c., “life, the animating or vital principle in man and animals,” from Anglo-French spirit, Old French espirit “spirit, soul” (12c., Modern French esprit) and directly from Latin spiritus “a breathing (of respiration, also of the wind), breath;” also “breath of a god,” hence “inspiration; breath of life,” hence life itself.

The Latin word also could mean “disposition, character; high spirit, vigor, courage; pride, arrogance.” It is a derivative of spirare “to breathe,” and formerly was said to be perhaps from a PIE *(s)peis- “to blow” (source also of Old Church Slavonic pisto “to play on the flute”). But de Vaan says the Latin verb is “Possibly an onomatopoeic formation imitating the sound of breathing. There are no direct cognates.” Compare conspire, expire, inspire.

In English it is attested from late 14c. as “divine substance, divine mind, God;” also “Christ” or His divine nature; also “the Holy Ghost; divine power.” Also by late 14c. as “the soul as the seat of morality in man,” and “extension of divine power to man; inspiration, a charismatic state; charismatic power,” especially in reference to prophecy.

The meaning “supernatural immaterial creature; angel, demon; an apparition, invisible corporeal being of an airy nature” is attested from mid-14c. The word is attested by late 14c. as “ghost, disembodied soul of a person” (compare ghost (n.)). Spirit-rapping, colloquial for spiritualism in the supernatural sense, is from 1852. Spirit-world “world of disembodied spirits” is by 1829.

It is attested from late 14c. as “essential nature, essential quality.” The non-theological sense of “essential principle of something” (as in Spirit of St. Louis) is attested from 1680s and was common after 1800. The Spirit of ’76 in reference to the qualities that sparked and sustained the American Revolution of 1776 is attested by 1797 in William Cobbett’s “Porcupine’s Gazette and Daily Advertiser.”

It also is attested from mid-14c. in English as “character, disposition; way of thinking and feeling, state of mind; source of a human desire;” in Middle English freedom of spirit meant “freedom of choice.” It is attested from 1580s in the metaphoric sense of “animation, vitality,” and by c. 1600 as “frame of mind with which something is done,” also “mettle, vigor of mind, courage.”

From late 14c. in alchemy as “volatile substance; distillate” (and from c. 1500 as “substance capable of uniting the fixed and the volatile elements of the philosopher’s stone”). Hence spirits “volatile substance;” the sense of which narrowed to “strong alcoholic liquor” by 1670s. This also is the sense in spirit level (1768), so called for the liquid in the clear tube.

According to Barnhart and OED (1989), the earliest use of the word in English mainly is from passages in the Vulgate, where the Latin word translates Greek pneuma and Hebrew ruah. A distinction between soul and spirit (as “seat of emotions”) became current in Christian terminology (such as Greek psykhē and pneuma, Latin anima and spiritus) but “is without significance for earlier periods” [Buck]. Latin spiritus, usually in classical Latin “breath,” replaced animus in the sense “spirit” in the imperial period and appears in Christian writings as the usual equivalent of Greek pneuma.

in brief, conceive light invisible, and that is a spirit. [T. Browne, “Religio Medici“]

AI Overview:  The word “inspiration” originates from the Latin word inspirare, meaning “to breathe into” or “to breathe upon”. It carries the deeper sense of inflating with spirit and has both a physical meaning of breathing air into the lungs and a figurative one of receiving divine influence or a sudden creative impulse. 

From Latin to English

• The word entered English through Old French and Late Latin. 
• Its earliest meaning in English (around the early 14th century) was theological, referring to a divine influence on writers or people. 
• The literal meaning of “breathing air into the lungs” only became common in the mid-16th century. 

Deeper Meanings

• The Latin root spirare means “to breathe,” and it is also the root for “spirit”. 
• This connection is reflected in the idea of inspiration as a “breath of life” or a divine animating force. 
• The word also has roots in the Biblical Greek word theopneustos, which refers to something “given by the inspiration of God”

insight(n.)

c. 1200, innsihht, “sight with the ‘eyes’ of the mind, mental vision, understanding from within,” from in (prep.) + sight (n.). But the meaning often seems to be felt as “sight into” (something else), and so the sense shifted to “penetrating understanding into character or hidden nature” (1580s). Similar formation in Dutch inzigt, German einsicht, Danish indsigt.

AI Overview:  The word “insight” comes from Middle English and was formed by combining the prefix “in-” with the word “sight,” literally meaning “sight into” or “mental vision”. Its meaning evolved to describe a deep, penetrating understanding or a sudden intuitive grasp of something’s hidden nature.  

Formation and Meaning

• In- + Sight: The word is a straightforward combination of the prefix “in-” and the noun “sight”. 
• “Mental Vision”: The earliest sense of “insight” in the Middle English period (c. 1200) referred to “sight with the ‘eyes’ of the mind,” a form of inner understanding. 
• “Penetrating Understanding”: By the 1580s, the sense shifted to describe a “penetrating understanding into character or hidden nature”

Cognates and Similar Concepts

The formation of “insight” is mirrored in other Germanic languages, including: Dutch: inzicht, German: Einsicht, Danish: indsigt, Swedish: insikt, and Icelandic: innsýn. 

hunch(v.)

“raise or bend into a hump,” 1650s; earlier “to push, thrust” (c. 1500), of unknown origin. Perhaps a variant of bunch (v.). Related: Hunched; hunching.

also from 1650s

hunch(n.)

1620s, “a push, a thrust,” from hunch (v.) in its older sense. The figurative meaning “a hint, a tip” (a “push” toward a solution or answer), is recorded by 1849 and led to that of “premonition, presentiment” (by 1904).

AI Overview:  The word “hunch” emerged in the late 15th century with the original meaning of “to push or shove,” possibly as a variant of the obsolete verb “hinch”. The sense of “to bend into a hump” appeared by the mid-17th century, and the noun meaning “a hump” or “a figurative push toward a solution” led to the final figurative meaning of “an intuitive feeling” or “presentiment” by the mid-19th century. 

Evolution of “Hunch”

• To push or shove (c. 1500): The earliest known use of “hunch” as a verb was to mean “to push or thrust” something. 
• To form a hump (mid-17th century): The verb and noun senses shifted to mean “to raise or bend into a hump” or simply “a hump”. This is seen in words like “hunch-backed”. 
• A figurative push (mid-19th century): This led to the noun sense of “a push toward a solution or answer”. 

An intuitive feeling (mid-19th century): The figurative “push” then evolved into the modern sense of “a presentiment, intuition, or gut feeling”.