a. and sb. Also (in sense B 1) cognat. [ad. L. cognātus, f. co- together + gnātus born, f. root gn-, gen-, gon- to produce. In Eng. the transferred sense appeared earliest.]
A. adj.
1. Descended from a common ancestor; of the same stock or family.
1827. G. Higgins, Celtic Druids, 78. Some of their cognate tribes.
1864. Kirk, Chas. Bold, II. IV. ii. 251. The barriers between cognate states.
1880. Muirhead, trans. Instit. Gaius, I. § 156. Agnates are … persons who are of kin through males,—cognate, as it were, through the father.
2. Of languages: Descended from the same original language; of the same linguistic family. Of words: Coming naturally from the same root, or representing the same original word, with differences due to subsequent separate phonetic development; thus, Eng. five, L. quinque, Gr. πέντε, are cognate words, representing a primitive *pénke.
1827. G. Higgins, Celtic Druids, 61. A cognate language.
1837. Prichard, Phys. Hist. Mankind (ed. 3), II. 19. A cognate dialect of the Berber speech.
1868. Gladstone, Juv. Mundi, ii. (1870), 58. The cognate word agrios appears to have gone through the same process as agrestis and Argeios.
b. Grammar. Cognate object or accusative: An object of kindred sense or derivation; spec. that which may adverbially follow an intransitive verb, as in ‘to die the death.’
1874. Roby, Lat. Gram., IV. viii. II. 40. The extent of action of the verb may be expressed by a substantive of the same meaning as the verb (Cognate accusative).
1876. Mason, Eng. Gram., § 372. What is often termed the cognate accusative (or objective) (as in ‘to run a race’) should more properly be classed among the adverbial adjuncts.
3. gen. Akin in origin; allied in nature, and hence, akin in quality; kindred, related, connected, having affinity. (Const. with, rarely to.)
c. 1645. Howell, Lett. (1655), IV. l. 120. Which atomes are still hovering up and down, and never rest till they meet with som pores proportionable and cognate unto their figures where they acquiesce.
1686. Goad, Celest. Bodies, III. iii. 455. Comets and Fiery Meteors are cognate.
1785. Warton, Notes on Milton’s Poems, 192 (T.). IMBRUTE, I believe, is a word of Milton’s coinage. So was the cognate compound IMPARADISED supposed to be.
1821. Southey, Vis. Judgm., vi. Honouring each in the other Kindred courage and virtue, and cognate knowledge and freedom.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 399. Geometry and the cognate sciences.
B. sb.
1. Roman Law. One related by blood to another; a kinsman; pl. those descended from the same ancestor, whether through males or females. Thus distinguished from agnate, which was limited to legal relationship through the father only, though including relationship by adoption. Hence b. Sc. Law. A relative on the mother’s side as opposed to an Agnate.
1754. Erskine, Princ. Sc. Law (1809), 85. The custody of the pupil’s person … is … committed to the mother while a widow, until the pupil be seven years old; and, in default of the mother, to the next cognate.
1754. Erskine, Princ. Sc. Law, I. vii. § 3. We understand by agnates all those who are related by the father … and by cognates those who are related by the mother.
1832. Austin, Jurispr. (1879), II. xxxvi. 631. [The mother] could not succeed to … [the son] as an agnat though she could succeed to him as his cognat.
1880. Muirhead, trans. Instit. Gaius, I. § 156. Those who are of kin through females are not agnates, but merely by natural law cognates.
2. A cognate word, term or thing.
1865. Sat. Rev., 11 Feb., 181. Reckoning the words which we have put in italics as Latin derivatives, merely because they happen to have Latin cognates!
