Etymologically
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quest

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 12:39. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kwɛst/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English queste, borrowed from Old French queste (“search, chase, inquiry”) and directly questa (“search, inquiry”),[2][3][4] from Vulgar Latin *quaesta, from Latin quaesita, the feminine past participle of quaerere (“to seek, ask”), of unknown origin.[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

An official or judicial inquiry, an inquest: 1303, in Robert Mannyng's Handlyng Synne;[2][6] about 1300 in Etymonline.[3]

Semantic evolution

A search or pursuit, especially of hounds seeking game, is from the early 14th century.[3][6] In medieval romance a quest is a knight's expedition to achieve some task, such as finding the Holy Grail (about 1384).[6][7] In quest of is from 1575.[6] The verb, of hounds, to search for game or to bay at it, is from the mid-14th century, whence the questing beast of Arthurian legend;[3] of persons, to go in search, it is from the 1620s.[3] The inquest sense survives in dialect.[8][9] The collecting of alms was a 16th-century sense.[4]

Timeline

  • 1303 – an inquest.[2][6]
  • early 14th century – a search.[3]
  • mid-14th century – the verb, of hounds.[3]
  • c. 1384 – a knight's quest.[6]
  • 1620s – of persons, to search.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A long search for something.
  2. In medieval romance, an expedition by a knight to perform a set task.
  3. (archaic) A jury of inquest.

Verb

  1. To go in search of something.
  2. Of a dog, to search for game.

Word family

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)