Tibi Cogitate - Think for Yourself
I had written an article in the Australian Skeptics magazine that suggested that "cogite tutu" meant 'think for yourself'. This is all over the net and has been used by members of the American Skeptics. I got this email that showed me once again the importance of researching for yourself (not just googling....)
Greetings from Informal (who has a BA Hons in Latin)
I read your letter to the Skeptic and I'm puzzled by the phrase cognite
tute which you suggest
means "think for yourself." Not in Latin. In Latin
it would mean something like "known, you there"
or even "known safely." I have seen lots of websites which
say that cognite tute means "think for
yourself" but I've also seen a lot of other incorrect crap on the
internet as well.
The imperative of cognosco is cognosce not cognite. I submit, however,
that cogito (I reflect, I ponder)
is better than cognosco (I recognise). Other verbs which can mean "I
think" are arbitror ("I perceive"),
opinor ("I suppose"), puto ("I settle"), and reor ("I
deem"); but not for nothing did Descartes choose cogito
rather than any other verb for his famous dictum.
If you want the exhortation "think for yourself" in Latin, it
should be something like "tibi cogita" or,
better still, "tibi cogitate" (which uses the 2nd imperative
(which has a stronger force than the simple
imperative). Cogitate means "do think!" whereas the usual cogita
means "think!"
To make tibi emphatic you could use -met. "Tibimet Cogitate." (Which
should sound a bit like
"TIB-bi-met koh-gi-TAH-tay"—with a hard g as in gas not
the soft g of giant.)
Farewell
The Later Latin Society
http://www.informalmusic.com/latinsoc