conoistre

Old French

Etymology

From Latin cognōscere, present active infinitive of cognōscō (probably through a Vulgar Latin *connōscere).

Verb

conoistre

1. to know
   • circa 1170, Wace, Le Roman de Rou:

     Ke charnelment od li ne jut,
     Ne charnelment ne la conut

     The physically he didn't lie with her
     And physically, he didn't know her

2. to recognize

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb ends in a palatal stem, so there is an extra i before the e of some endings. This verb has irregularities in its conjugation. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of conoistre (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		conoistre			avoir coneü
gerund		en conoissant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		conoissant
past participle		coneü
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	conois	conois	conoist	conoissons	conoissiez	conoissent
	imperfect	conoissoie, conoisseie	conoissoies, conoisseies	conoissoit, conoisseit	conoissiiens, conoissiens	conoissiiez, conoissiez	conoissoient, conoisseient
	preterite	conui	coneüs	conut	coneümes	coneüstes	conurent
	future	conoistrai	conoistras	conoistra	conoistrons	conoistroiz, conoistreiz, conoistrez	conoistront
	conditional	conoistroie, conoistreie	conoistroies, conoistreies	conoistroit, conoistreit	conoistriiens, conoistriens	conoistriiez, conoistriez	conoistroient, conoistreient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	conoisse	conoisses	conoisse	conoissiens, conoissons	conoissiez	conoissent
	imperfect	coneüsse	coneüsses	coneüst	coneüssons, coneüssiens	coneüssoiz, coneüssez, coneüssiez	coneüssent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	conois	—	conoissons	conoissiez	—

Related terms

• conoissance
• reconoistre

Descendants

• Bourguignon: quenoître
• French: connaître
• Norman: connaître (Jersey), counaîte (France, Guernsey)
• Walloon: kinoxhe, conoxhe, cnoxhe

References

• “Appendix E: Irregular Verbs” in E. Einhorn (1974), Old French: A Concise Handbook, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 151