One Apple A Day #126
I love words. I think we don’t acknowledge enough the incredible power that words have. Through words we can share, we can communicate, we can create connections, we can tell stories, we can shape what we sense and feel.
One thing that I love is how the words of a language carry a lot of information about the culture that generates and uses that language, or slang. I always find intriguing the discovery of the existence or absence of a word to express a certain feeling or emotion in a language.
Some times I struggle too when I try to connect a word in a foreign language to my mother-tongue language, Italian.
One of such words is “acknowledgement”.
In English, this word means “The act of owning or recognising a particular character or relationship; recognition as regards the existence, authority, truth, or genuineness.”.
Even in English is not an easy word to nail perfectly for me. It is hard to distinguish acknowledgement from recognition or praise, as an example. From the definition above, I understand that it is something more than just recognition because there is a positive intention behind. But it is also different from praise because it is not weighted with judgement. The difference is very subtle and not easy to grasp for a foreign like me.
Unfortunately, trying to translate the word in Italian is not helpful. I can’t find a perfect match. Google translate suggests the words “riconoscimento” or “attestazione”. But, the first one means just recognition and the second one attestation or testimony.
I don’t think they carry the same meaning of acknowledgement.
And so? In this cases what I do is to dig more into the meaning of the word to be able to grasp the sense behind the form.
Let’s take a quick look at the etymology of the word.
Acknowledgement: 1590s, “act of acknowledging,” from acknowledge + -ment. “An early instance of -ment added to an orig. Eng. vb.” [OED]. Meaning “token of due recognition” is recorded from 1610s. []
Acknowledge (v.): late 15c., “admit or show one’s knowledge,” a blend of Middle English aknow “admit or show one’s knowledge” (from Old English oncnawan “understand, come to recognize,” from on (see on (prep.)) + cnawan “recognize;” see know) and Middle English knowlechen “admit, acknowledge” (c. 1200; see knowledge). “By 16th c. the earlier vbs. knowledge and a©know … were obs., and acknowledge took their place” [OED].
Knowledge (n.): Look up knowledge at Dictionary.com
early 12c., cnawlece “acknowledgment of a superior, honor, worship;” for first element see know (v.). The second element is obscure, perhaps from Scandinavian and cognate with the -lock “action, process,” found in wedlock.
Know (v.) Look up know at Dictionary.com
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.”
So, we have a sort of a loop here. To acknowledge means to “admit or show one’s knowledge”. But then knowledge means “acknowledgment of a superior, honor, worship;”. Even with this loop, that isn’t helping, I think I found a meaning that I like.
Acknowledgement is the “act of recognising and showing our worship for the uniqueness in something or someone”.
Now I believe I found a good starting point to practice acknowledgement.