Etymologically
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interrogation

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Pronunciation

  • /ɪnˌteɹ.əˈɡeɪ.ʃən/[1]

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
  • 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