Etymologically
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question

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈkwes.tʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English questiun (later questioun), borrowed from Anglo-Norman questiun and Old French question (“question, difficulty; legal inquest, torture”), and directly borrowed from Latin quaestiō (“a seeking, inquiry, judicial investigation”),[2][3] from quaerere (“to ask, seek”).[2][4][5] It is related to query, quest and inquest.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A philosophical or theological problem: before 1200,[3] or the early 13th century according to Etymonline.[2]

Semantic evolution

Before 1325, in the Cursor Mundi, question meant any problem or matter, a thing asked, and the act of asking.[3] Etymonline dates “an utterance meant to get an answer” and “a doubt, difficulty” to the early 14th century.[2] Middle English also used it for a debate and for legal proceedings.[2] A question of is from the early 15th century and no question, “undoubtedly”, from the mid-15th.[2] The verb appears before 1470, in Malory's Morte d'Arthur,[3] and “to doubt, dispute” is from the 1530s.[2][8] A motion put to the vote in an assembly has been a question since 1549.[8] In question is from the 1610s and out of the question from about 1700.[2] The question mark is named from 1849,[2] or 1869 according to Barnhart;[3] it was earlier a question stop (1862) or an interrogation point (1590s).[2] No questions asked is from 1879, in newspaper notices about lost property.[2]

Timeline

  • before 1200 – a philosophical problem.[3]
  • before 1325 – a thing asked, the act of asking (Cursor Mundi).[3]
  • mid-15th century – no question.[2]
  • before 1470 – verb (Malory).[3]
  • 1530s – verb, to doubt.[2]
  • 1549 – a motion in an assembly.[8]
  • c. 1700 – out of the question.[2]
  • 1849 – question mark.[2]
  • 1879 – no questions asked.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A sentence or expression that asks for an answer.
  2. A subject or point open to dispute; an issue.
  3. A difficult matter; a problem.
  4. A point under discussion: the question of funding.
  5. A motion put before an assembly for a vote.
  6. Doubt or uncertainty: beyond question.

Verb

  1. To ask questions of; to interrogate.
  2. To express doubt about; to dispute.
  3. To examine or analyse.

Word family

  • questioner
  • questioningly
  • counterquestion
  • questionary
  • requestion
  • subquestion
  • unquestionable
  • cross-question
  • query
  • quest
  • inquest
  • inquire
  • questionnaire

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 j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)