interrogation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English interrogacioun, also interrogacion,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French interrogacion (13th century)^[4][5] and directly borrowed from Latin interrogātiō (“a question; questioning; judicial inquiry”),^[5][4][6][7] a noun of action from interrogō (“to ask, question; examine judicially”).^[5][4] The Latin verb is formed from inter (“between”) and rogō (“to ask, question”),^[4] apparently a figurative use of a verb meaning "to stretch out the hand", from Proto-Indo-European *reg- (“to move in a straight line”).^[4] The verb interrogate was formed later, in the late 15th century, as a back-formation or from the Latin past participle.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A question, in Chaucer's Miller's Tale (about 1390), where the student Nicholas can foretell rain or drought by interrogaciouns:^[5][3] the OED thinks it there perhaps means a syllogism, like Latin interrogātiō in Cicero,^[5] and the Chaucer concordance glosses it as a scientific calculation.^[8]

Semantic evolution

From "a question" the word moved to the act of questioning: Etymonline dates "a questioning; a set of questions" to about 1500,^[4] the Middle English Dictionary has "a set of questions" from the 15th century,^[3] and the OED's first record of the action of asking questions is from 1551.^[5] Grammarians and rhetoricians used it from about 1533 for a question as a form of speech, and the point or note of interrogation, the question mark, is recorded from 1598, in Florio.^[5] Johnson (1755) gave "a question put; an enquiry" and "a note that marks a question".^[9] In the 20th century it gained a technical sense in radio and radar, the sending of a signal that makes a transponder reply (1946).^[5][10] The modern sense of close and formal questioning, especially of a suspect or a prisoner, is the main one today.^[10][2]

Timeline

• c. 1390 – a question, in Chaucer.^[5][3]
• c. 1500 – a questioning, a set of questions, according to Etymonline.^[4]
• ?1533 – in grammar and rhetoric, a question as a form of speech.^[5]
• 1551 – the action of asking questions.^[5]
• 1598 – point of interrogation, a question mark.^[5]
• 1946 – a signal sent to a transponder.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or process of interrogating, questioning someone closely and formally, especially by the police: The suspect was held for interrogation.^[10][2][5]
2. A question or inquiry.^[10][2][5]
3. (grammar) A question as a type of sentence or form of speech.^[2][5]
4. A question mark, also called a point or mark of interrogation.^[2][5]
5. (telecommunications) The sending of a signal that triggers a transponder to reply.^[10][5]

Word family

• interrogational
• reinterrogation
• interrogation point

Related words

• interrogate
• interrogative
• interrogator
• interrogatory
• rogation
• subrogation
• prerogative

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins