The term incognito was adopted from Italian in the mid-17th century, where it denoted “unknown.” The same concept applied in Latin as incognitus, derived from the prefix in- meaning “not,” and cognitus, the past participle of cognoscere, meaning “to get to know” (thus, something incognito was “not known”). Cognoscere also featured the prefix con-, signifying “with,” leaving the root gnoscere, meaning “to know” (also the origin of words like noble, connoisseur, and cognition). In- traces back to Proto-Indo-European en (also “not”), con- to PIE kom, meaning “along,” and gnoscere to the PIE root gno, also meaning “know” (the source of words like gnome, diagnosis, ignorant, and many other fascinating terms). While the usage of incognito in literature has shown a slight decline over time, it remains relatively steady.
