quérir

Forms

quérir^[1] Old French infinitive querre.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle French querir, inherited from Old French querre (“to seek”), remade with a change of conjugation, inherited from Latin quaerō (“to seek, to ask, to inquire”).^[2][4][1] The DHLF dates the new form to the end of the 12th century, the TLFi to 1377, Bloch and Wartburg to the 15th century.^[4][2][3] The origin of the Latin verb is unknown.^[4][5]

Cognate with Walloon cweri, Italian chiedere (“to ask”), Spanish querer (“to want, to love”), Portuguese querer and Romanian cere.^[1][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old French querre is first found at the end of the 10th century in the Passion, meaning “to seek”.^[2][6] The form quérir is recorded in 1377 in Gace de la Buigne's Roman des Deduis, of seeking game or its tracks with hounds.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Querre, later quérir, was the usual verb for “to seek” in the Middle Ages, but from the 15th century it gave way to chercher, which won out in the 17th century.^[2][3] Since then it survives only in the infinitive after aller, venir, envoyer and faire, in regional use and as a literary archaism;^[6][4][3] La Fontaine still used querre.^[6][4][3] Its only derivative is the legal term quérable (1765), said of a debt to be collected at the debtor's home.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 980 – Querre in the Passion.^[6][4]
• 1377 – Quérir in Gace de la Buigne's Roman des Deduis.^[2]
• 15th century – It begins to give way to chercher.^[2]
• 17th century – Chercher prevails, and quérir is kept only in the infinitive.^[2][6]
• 1765 – The Encyclopédie records quérable.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (literary, regional) To fetch, to go and get someone or something, used in the infinitive after aller, venir and envoyer.^[6][2][5]
2. (archaic) To seek.^[1][5]

Word family

• quérable

Related words

• acquérir
• conquérir
• enquérir
• requérir
• quête
• question
• Latin quaerō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse