cognoscenti

Cognoscenti is the Italian plural of cognoscente, from Latin cognoscere (to get to know, to recognize), from co- (together) + gnoscere (to know). The word names people who have acquired deep knowledge of a subject through study and experience. In Italian, it carries respect without condescension — the cognoscenti are the knowledgeable, the informed, the people worth consulting.

English borrowed the word in the eighteenth century, initially for people knowledgeable about the fine arts. The Grand Tour — the journey through Italy and France that wealthy young Englishmen undertook as part of their education — produced a class of English travelers who considered themselves cognoscenti of Italian art and architecture. The word was aspirational: calling oneself a cognoscente claimed cultural authority.

By the twentieth century, cognoscenti had expanded beyond art. Wine cognoscenti. Fashion cognoscenti. Film cognoscenti. The word applies to any domain that has a knowledgeable elite — people who can distinguish quality from mediocrity, genuine from fake, and first-rate from merely good. The word implies that some knowledge is exclusive, and those who have it form a group.

English also has 'connoisseur,' from French connaisseur, from the same Latin cognoscere. The two words are etymological cousins — Italian and French forms of the same Latin verb. But they have different registers in English: a connoisseur is an individual expert; the cognoscenti are a collective. You are a connoisseur. They are the cognoscenti. The individual and the club.