Re: savoir-connaître (was: Re: can-may)
| From: | Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, December 27, 2004, 18:24 |
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On Mon, Dec 27, 2004 at 12:43:38PM -0500, # 1 wrote:
> >>Maybe you don't know it clearly and that you only use it instinctively
> >too >because I don't know how to explain clearly the difference between
> >"savoir" >and "connaître" wich both means "to know" in english..
Separating "to know" into saber/savoir/weissen vs
conocer/connaître/kennen is relatively easy for English speakers,
actually; the meanings fall into easily grasped categories, even though
the same word is used for them in English, and even though the two words
in each of the above three languages don't line up exactly with each
other. In contrast, things like the two copulas in the Iberian
languages, or prepositional distinctions (e.g. "por" vs "para" in
Spanish, both of which can be "for" in English) are harder, because the
categories are harder to delineate.
Incidentally, in case it wasn't clear from Sally's post, there's
a connection between your examples, since English "can" is
derived from an older word for "know", which was used in the
sense "know how to [do something]", and is cognate with German "kann".
I assume they're cognate with "kennen" as well? Is "kann" considered a
form of "kennen", even? My German knowledge is quite rusty. :)
-Marcos
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