in the latin language, what do Scito and Nosce translate to?

3 Comments

1. lastuntakenscreenname says:

   October 18, 2009 at 1:34 am

   "Scito te ipsum" is "know yourself" and "nosce te ipsum" is "get to know yourself."

   Edit: I should probably explain the forms before someone comes along and downthumbs me. The verb scire ("to know") is a little irregular and uses the future imperative for the present, scito, scitote, scitor, etc. Noscere is an inceptive verb so it has a fundamental sense of starting or becoming; the idea is "to gain knowledge" or "get to know". In the perfect aspect (novisse), it means "to know" i.e. "to have gotten to know". "Nosce te ipsum" is probably the more popular form in modern quotations, but "scito te ipsum" seems to be far more frequent in actual Latin literature (it’s actually the title of an essay by Abelard). In fact, I don’t know any ancient sources that say "nosce te ipsum".

   Edit:

   scito te ipsum – Abelard
   te ipsum scito – Ambrosius
   "scito teipsum vel cognosce teipsum" – the indecisive Clement of Alexandria
   nosce te ipsum – Ambrosius
   cognosce te – Ambrosius (all in the Hexameron)

   These five are actually discussing the Pythian temple inscription GNOTHI SEAUTON:

   nosce te – Ausonius
   nosce te – Seneca (translating the Pythian inscription)
   "nosse se" (to know oneself) – Pliny (perfect of noscere)
   "nosmet ipsos familiarius noverimus" -([that] we should know our very own selves familiarly) Minucius Felix (perfect of noscere again)
   "Iubet igitur nos Pythius Apollo noscere nosmet ipsos" – Cicero

   [primum] te ipsum cognosce – Gregorius Theologus
   agnosce te – Augustine

   Latin, unlike Greek, doesn’t have a perfect imperative, so I suspect some authors were torn between using the more personal [cog]noscere, which has the wrong temporal aspect, and scire which has the right aspect but is more abstract its sense of knowledge.
   For knowing someone personally, I think cognoscere is the most common verb.
2. God's child (aka princess) says:

   October 18, 2009 at 1:34 am

   I have no clue… they sound nothing like any of the latin words i know that are translated know…
3. aida says:

   October 18, 2009 at 1:34 am

   If you’ve had French, think of "noscere" as the root of "connaitre" and "scire" as the root of "savoir." "Noscere" is to know in the sense of being acquainted with, and "scire" is to know in the sense of realizing, having knowledge of. So normally you would use "noscere" when the object is a person, including yourself. You might be told that you’re incorrect if you use "scire" in that context, but you could argue that to "scire" a person means to be able to read him like a book!

   In addition, you’ve noticed the different endings. Both the verbs you cite are imperative singulars, but "nosce" is present imperative, and "scito" is future imperative. It also happens to be the ONLY imperative (singular) of "scire"–that verb has no present imperative.

   Bottom line: I’d opt for "nosce."