connoisseur

English connoisseur entered around 1705–1715 from French connoisseur, an old spelling of connaître, 'to know.' That French verb traces back through Old French connaiss- to Latin cognōscens, the present participle of 'to know.'

The word arrived in English still carrying its French spelling, connoisseur, before English settled on that form permanently — the French connaître itself later dropped the older 'connoître' spelling after 1835.

It shares its root with the Latin-derived family of 'knowing' words, since cognōscens is built on the same base that gives English words like 'cognizant' their sense of knowledge.