The notion of unknown comes from the Latin word ignōtus , which can be translated as “unknown.” It is an adjective that is used to refer to someone who has not been discovered or is not known .
For example: “An unknown singer surprised with his voice on the pedestrian street, captivating hundreds of people” , “The veteran footballer will play for an unknown club in the second division of Armenia” , “The president chose an unknown economist as head of the Ministry of Finance” .
Someone unknown, in this framework, is not popular, famous or famous . Most people don't know his name and wouldn't be able to recognize him when they see him.
Many times an individual unknown to many is recognized by others. When Argentine basketball player Manu Ginobili was selected by the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA draft, for almost all Americans he was an unknown athlete . However, he already stood out in the field of Italian basketball and played for his country's national team.
Unknown can also be used to describe a place that is unpopulated or of little renown beyond its borders or limits: “Due to a mechanical problem we had to spend the night in an unknown place in Patagonia,” “The actor decided to enjoy his vacation in a unknown island in the Caribbean” , “My son was sent to work in a branch of his company that is in an unknown country in Asia” .
A company and a sports team can also be unknown: “An unknown company from China surprised by acquiring the American manufacturer” , “An unknown third division club hit home and defeated Real Madrid” .
If we look for the term unknown in a thesaurus we do not find many results; in fact, the most common are simply the following four: ignored, unexplored, new , and unknown . In this list we have some quite interesting cases, since not all of them have the same meaning nor do they serve to replace unknown in any sentence.
Let's start with the last of them: unknown . This is the one that comes closest to the definition of unknown that we presented in the previous paragraphs, since it speaks of a person whom the masses do not know, who can go unnoticed by most people. As implied above, lack of fame does not always reflect a person's level of skill but also depends on arbitrary factors, such as luck and the well-known saying "being at the right time and in the right place."
Another synonym, new , does not reflect exactly the same thing, but rather speaks of the way in which the public describes the unknown person once they meet them, so that they stop being unknown and become "new." ». In any case, given that when one listens to a singer or sees an athlete for the first time, among many other examples, it takes a while until we add them to the list of "known personalities", and that is why in some cases These words can act as synonyms.
The case of unexplored is similar: we cannot talk about someone if we do not know them, so to label them in this way we have to have seen them and, therefore, remove them from the group of the "unexplored." However, a lot of time may pass between the moment in which it comes to light and makes its full potential known, so it can be considered "unexplored" until then.
Finally, he is ignored , which gives unknown an almost moral nuance if we understand that the individual deserved to be cared for but the public did not do justice to his work .