Etymology Dictionary

IGNORE,  not to know, to disregard.  (F.,—L.)   In Cotgrave.—F. ignorer, 'to ignore, or be ignorant of;' Cot.—Lat. ignorare, not to know.—Lat. i-, short for in-, not; and the base gnō-, seen in gnoscere, later noscere, to know.   See Know.   Der. ignorant, in the Remedie of Love, st. 34, pr. in Chaucer's Works, ed. 1561, fol. 323 b, from F. ignorant (Cot.), which from Lat. ignorant-, stem of pres. pt. of ignorare; ignorant-ly; also ignorance, in early use, Ancren Riwle, p. 278, l. 7, from F. ignorance (Cot.), which from Lat. ignorantia, ignorance.   Also ignoramus, formerly a law term; 'Ignoramus (i.e. we are ignorant) is properly written on the bill of indictments by the grand enquest, empanelled on the inquisition of causes criminal and publick, when they mislike their evidence, as defective or too weak to make good the presentment;' Blount's Law Dict., 1691; cf. Minsheu.