nosce te

Latin

Alternative forms

tēmet nōsce (not attested in Classical Latin)
nōsce tē ipsum (not attested in Classical Latin)

Etymology

Calque of Ancient Greek γνῶθι σεαυτόν (gnôthi seautón), one of the Delphic maxims.

The Greek contains a reflexive pronoun, but in Classical Latin there had been no dedicated reflexive form of tē (but only emphatic forms such as tētē, which are not necessarily reflexive), and accordingly the Greek dedicated reflexive form σεαυτόν (seautón) was rendered with a simple tē in Latin, which covers reflexive uses.

The Classically unattested translations include emphatic forms of the pronoun used as pseudo-reflexives in an attempt to match the compound nature of σεαυτόν (seautón), or genuine Late Latin reflexive formations.

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈnoːs.kɛ ˈteː]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈnɔʃ.ʃe ˈtɛː]

Proverb

nōsce tē

know thyself
- c. 45 BCE, Cicero, Tusculanae disputationes 1.52:
  est illud quidem vel maxumum animo ipso animum videre, et nimirum hanc habet vim praeceptum Apollinis, quo monet ut se quisque noscat. non enim credo id praecipit, ut membra nostra aut staturam figuramve noscamus; neque nos corpora sumus, nec ego tibi haec dicens corpori tuo dico. cum igitur 'nosce te' dicit, hoc dicit: 'nosce animum tuum.' nam corpus quidem quasi vas est aut aliquod animi receptaculum; ab animo tuo quicquid agitur, id agitur a te. hunc igitur nosse nisi divinum esset, non esset hoc acrioris cuiusdam animi praeceptum tributum deo.
  1877 translation by C. D. Yonge
  It is, indeed, the most difficult thing imaginable to discern the soul by the soul. And this, doubtless, is the meaning of the precept of Apollo, which advises every one to know himself. For I do not apprehend the meaning of the God to have been that we should understand our members, our stature, and form; for we are not merely bodies; nor, when I say these things to you, am I addressing myself to your body: when, therefore, he says, “Know yourself,” he says this, “Inform yourself of the nature of your soul;” for the body is but a kind of vessel, or receptacle of the soul, and whatever your soul does is your own act. To know the soul, then, unless it had been divine, would not have been a precept of such excellent wisdom as to be attributed to a God
- c. 4 BCE – 65 CE, Seneca Minor, Dialogus ad Marciam de consolatione 11.3.1-2:
  [...] illa Pythicis oraculis adscripta <uox>: nosce te. Quid est homo?
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)