investigate

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪnˈves.tɪ.ɡeɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is probably a back-formation from investigation, after borrowed from Latin investīgātus, the past participle of investīgāre (“to trace out, search into”),^[2][3][4] from in- (“in, into”) and vestīgāre (“to track, trace”),^[2][5][6] from vestīgium (“footprint, track”) (see vestige).^[2][3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To search or inquire into, to examine a matter systematically: about 1510.^[8][2][4]

Semantic evolution

The Latin verb was first a hunter's word, to follow tracks, and only figuratively to search into.^[3] The intransitive use, to make a search or inquire systematically, is also from about 1510,^[8] and the literal sense of tracing out or tracking, rare in English, is recorded in 1774 and is obsolete.^[8] Investigation is older, apparently before 1425 in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon,^[2] and investigator is from 1552.^[2] Collins notes that it is used especially of inquiries into a crime or a death.^[7]

Timeline

• before 1425 – investigation.^[2]
• c. 1510 – to investigate.^[8][2]
• 1552 – investigator.^[2]
• 1774 – to track, trace (obsolete).^[8]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To inquire into or examine something in detail and systematically, especially to find out the truth.
2. To make a detailed inquiry or systematic examination.

Word family

• investigable
• investigation
• investigative
• investigator
• investigatory
• uninvestigated
• reinvestigate
• uninvestigating

Related words

• investigational
• vestige
• vestigial

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press