inquire

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English enqueren, also anqueren,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French enquerre (“to ask, inquire about”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} now enquérir,^[2][5][7] and, according to Etymonline, directly borrowed from Medieval Latin inquerō.^[2] The French verb is from Vulgar Latin *inquaerō,^[4][3][6][7] an alteration of Latin inquīrō (“to seek after, search for, inquire into”),^[4][3][7] formed from in- (“into”) and quaerō (“to seek, ask”), the simple verb after which the Vulgar Latin form was reshaped.^[4][6][7][5] The spelling with in- was taken from Latin: Etymonline dates it to the 14th century,^[2] Barnhart finds inqueren before 1398 and enquiren probably before 1425,^[3] and Hoad and the Oxford Dictionary of English date the Latinized spelling to the 15th century.^[5][8] It is related to query.^[7][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To ask about, seek information or knowledge, and also to conduct a legal or official investigation: about 1300.^[2][3] The OED's first sense, to search into or investigate, is from about 1300, and to ask about a thing from about 1305.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Chaucer used enqueren about twenty times, for asking, seeking and finding out.^[10] The transitive senses "examine, investigate" and "question (a person)" are now obsolete,^[11][9] and the construction with a simple object (inquire the way) is now less usual than inquire about or a clause.^[11][9] Inquire after, to ask about someone's health, and inquire for, to ask to see a person, are also recorded.^[11] Johnson (1755) defined the transitive verb as "to ask about; to seek out".^[12] The half-French spelling enquire has survived beside inquire,^[2] and Merriam-Webster calls it a chiefly British variant.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – enqueren, to ask about, to investigate.^[2][3]
• before 1398 – the spelling inqueren.^[3]
• before 1425 – the spelling enquiren.^[3]
• c. 1440 – the spelling inquire.^[9]
• early 16th century – inquire for, to ask for a thing or to see a person.^[11]
• 1755 – Johnson: to ask about, to seek out.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To ask for information about something: He inquired the price of the tickets or She inquired whether the train was late.^[14][6]
2. To ask a question; to put a question to someone, usually with of: I'll inquire of the porter when the office opens.^[14][11]
3. To make a search or investigation, often with into: The committee will inquire into the complaints.^[14][6][11]
4. inquire after: to ask about the health or welfare of someone.^[11]
5. (obsolete) To examine or investigate something.^[11][9]
6. (obsolete) To question a person.^[11][9]

Word family

• inquirer
• inquiringly
• inquirable
• uninquired
• reinquire
• noninquiring

Related words

• inquest
• inquiry
• inquisition
• inquisitive
• inquisitor
• query
• question

Usage notes

The spelling enquire is a chiefly British variant.^[13][1] Inquire is the more common form, especially in American English but also in British English; some authorities hold that British usage keeps enquire for ordinary asking and inquire for formal or official investigation, a distinction not made in the United States, Canada or Australia.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
14. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins