non novi, ignoro

Latin Learning Latin
1

Is “non novi” permissible or must one say “ignoro”? Is there some nuance?

2

Salve Laurenti!

Yes, it is permissible. At least Cicero is using it in two passages:

  • Epistularum ad Atticum Liber XII (12.6): de Caelio vide, quaeso, ne quae lacuna sit in auro. ego ista non novi. sed certe in collubo est detrimenti satis.
  • Epistularum ad Atticum Liber XII (13.21a): quod autem de illa nostra cogitatione scribis in qua nihil tibi cedo, ea quae novi valde probo, hominem, domum, facultates. quod caput est, ipsum non novi sed audio laudabilia, de Scrofa etiam proxime.

As for “nuances” I do not know. I leave that question to the more advanced folk.

By the way, to find the passages above, I simply did a “site”-search using Google’s site-operator like this: site:thelatinlibrary.com non novi

This is also useful if you want to have a list of the PDF-files of a site. I can wholeheartedly recommend this site-operator.

Vale,

Carolus Raeticus