在丹.阿伯奈特(Dan Abnett)的作品中，常出现一个名词“Cognitae”，目前比较使用广泛的翻译是“闻道学派”，但在译者翻译时，也常有将其翻译成认知者或求道者类似的译名，也有将其成为教派的。那么，到底什么是“Cognitae”？本文我们将从词源角度结合原文来解析。
前置阅读：
在拉丁语中，有一个词语“Cognosco(Verb)”，它由“con-”前缀与“(g)nōscō”组成。
con-源自“cum”，代表着“with”，用于复合词中，表示任何行为的完整性和完善性，从而使简单词的意义更加强烈；而(g)nōscō(Verb)则代表着“I know, recognize, am acquainted with”，即拥有知识。故Cognosco意为“我学习，我熟悉，我认识”。而Cognosco则变化出了被动完成分词Cognitus。英语的Cognitive正式源自于此。
用作动词时，Cognitus意为：
1.已知 (根据经验)，被承认，被认可的
2.被注意到的，公认的，被公认的
如——“et Hectorea primus fataliter hasta, Protesilae, cadis, commissaque proelia magno stant Danais, fortisque animae nece cognitus Hector.” ~ Ovid, Metamorphoses XII
这里就是指“闻名(公认的)的赫克托耳”。
而用作名词时，则意为：
熟人(清楚某人的行为)
如——“longius mille et quingentis passibus abesset neque， ut postea ex captivis comperit， aut ipsius adventus aut Labieni cognitus esset” ~ Caesar, Bellum Gallicum I
这里就是指“熟知的拉别尼”。
而Cognitae(adj.) 即是Cognitus的阴性复数呼格，罗马人用呼格(vocative)来直接呼唤某人或某物。
因为根据词性，阴性词通常往往与某些抽象概念相关联，所以，这个结社在战锤中被命名为了：Cognitae。如果根据词意来说，它大致对应着中文的“闻者”(们)。
《论语-颜渊篇》中有这样一段：
子曰：“是闻也，非达也。夫达也者，质直而好义，察言而观色，虑以下人。在邦必达，在家必达。夫闻也者，色取仁而行违，居之不疑。在邦必闻，在家必闻。”
安德义《论语解读》这样解释闻与达的分别：闻者沽名钓誉，达者脚踏实地。达者实有而不居，闻者居而无其实。闻者注重表面功夫，达者注重内在修养。
而究竟是“学派”还是“教派”则必须要阅读《死颅(Mortis)》中欧尔疑似描述古代“Cognitae”的段落。
‘The people of the tower thought of themselves as something else.They were scholars of a sort, thinkers, fools…’ He found a humourless laugh on his lips and shook his head. ‘I think they thought they could unify humanity, elevate it, make it something… higher…’ He could feel John looking at him, but he did not look back.His eyes found the frozen face of a man in the circle of figures at the chamber’s centre. A drop of blood hung, half-formed from the man’s open lips.‘They built their tower, and up and up it went, and out there, their word spread across the lands.Cultures, people, language, art, they changed it all.’
欧尔将他们描述为scholars of a sort, thinkers。
scholar：学者；在特殊领域进行过高级研究的人。
sort：基于任何共同特征而建立的群体。
thinker：思想家；一个培养了思维能力的人。
所以其实很明显，原始的“Cognitae”是一个学者组织，而并非是一个宗教组织。
‘The same as everyone with power – to change things. They wanted to elevate humanity, or at least that was what they said. Ideas, art, knowledge, power, all of it. Spread it, channel it, master it, and it would make humanity something bright and shining. They wanted to unlock potential.’
“They did not concentrate all their power and ideals in one figure. The idea was that over time the knowledge and understanding would spread out, that we would all be illuminated.”
‘They persisted and still do, seeds and ideas scattered from this tower and this moment. Ideas of a common origin and derivation.’
根据描述，原始的学派组织的目的，是通过群体认知的提升，来充分施放人类的潜能，将人类擢升到更高的层次上。原始的暗言塔被帝皇摧毁，含有共同起源的思想种子四散各地。我想，这刚好对应着巴别塔的故事。
所以，闻-道-学派还是是一个相对信达雅的翻译。
而，莉莲·蔡斯“建立”的v2.0版本的“Cognitae”则是完全不同的两个组织。就这一点上，LEX的描述其实是有误的。对于她而言（或对她自身的认知而言），她并非是脱离了一个组织（审判庭）加入了另一个组织（闻道学派），而是审判庭认为她选择了激进-重生派(Recongregator)理念，并利用“Cognitae”所追逐的手段“暗言”而达到目的，所以，她是一个“闻道者”。
故在战锤40K故事时间线，莉莲所建立的学院网络在当地审判庭，在追查的审判官艾森霍恩，拉文诺看来，就等于“闻道学派”。
而莉莲的行动方式，根据《拉文诺·恶徒(Ravenor Rogue)》所述：
“There was a school, Zael, an academy: private, esoteric, long since closed down. It existed about a century ago. It was run by a renegade called Lilean Chase, now long dead. Its aim was to develop, by means psychic, eugenic and noetic, a generation of people who would work to further the cause of Chaos in this sector. Every one of them was a genius, a devil, a monster. They, and their handiwork, have plagued the Inquisition for decades. A secret society. A weapons-grade secret society. Molotch was one of the academy’s graduates, one of Chase’s star pupils. His intellect was astonishing, and it was tempered with extraordinary noetic training. Zygmunt Molotch, you see, is one of the Inquisition’s most wanted. He is abominably malicious. He is Cognitae.”
通过灵能、优生和感思来培养一代将努力推动斯卡鲁斯星区混乱意图(cause of Chaos*)的个体。
*她的主要目的为了颠覆帝国秩序而不是信仰亚空间力量，所以这里的Chaos指的并不是混沌。
而她的意图则在在《拉文诺》第二章中明确表示：
A radical of the Recongregator philosophy, she had forgone her ordo loyalties and founded the Cognitae school on Hesperus.
所以诸上所属，LEX词条描写到莉莲意图利用暗言以及学院网络培养的特工，达到让帝国摆脱教条主义的原由在此，这就是她作为重生派一员的关键教条。故，30K故事线所述的“Cognitae”与40K故事线的完全不同。
结语
其实“Cognitae”译为闻道学派多少也也有一部分习惯法的因素。只是它相对来说是合理的。但一旦使用了这个翻译，你就会发现，碰到“He is Cognitae”这样的语句时：“他是个闻道学派”就会显得很怪，所以在处理上一般写成了“他是个闻道学派的成员。”
可其实观其词义，它其实也只是单纯指“闻者”，富含学识的人，而并不是指追求学识的人。
故写下此文，希望对读者，亦或者译者能有一定的帮助。
