reconnoiter (2009-05-04)

Part of Speech: verb

Pronunciation: [re-kên-'oi-têr or ree-kên-'oi-têr]

Definition: To make a preliminary inspection in order to gather information.

Usage: Nevertheless, while we think "military" when we think "reconnoiter," any of us can engage in the act. "Natasha sent her husband to reconnoiter the end-of-summer lawn and garden sales as her friends arrived for Saturday luncheon." Children, especially the shy type, often reconnoiter the playground to decide if they should make a mad dash for a swing or not.

Suggested Usage: Today's word comes to us from military jargon, popularized by US war movies. Ernest Hemingway's 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' has a suspense-filled scene of possible discovery when Robert Jordan and his band are reconnoitering the bridge he's to demolish. As Hemingway's scene shows, "to reconnoiter" implies that one visually inspects the enemy. Observations are the rule in reconnoitering, in contrast to espionage, where information is gathered through infiltrating the enemy or making contact with them. Someone who is sent to gather visual information, probably through furtive measures, and report back is a reconnoiterer, the noun form of today's word.

Etymology: Obsolete French reconnoître, from Old French reconoistre "to recognize," from the root reconnois- "to know again." The French words come from the Latin recognoscere, re- "again" + cognoscere "to get to know." The PIE root is gno- "to know." Not surprisingly, gno- gives us knowledge and acknowledge, but also cunning, ken, kith and kin, and notorious (Not that anyone in our readership would ken the cunning or notorious in their kith and kin). (If you'd like more PIE, see "How is a Hippo Like a Feather?" in YDC's library.)