conquestio

Forms

conquestiō f (genitive conquestiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin conqueror (“to complain, bewail”) + -tiō, a noun of action.^[2][1] De Vaan lists that verb under queror (“to complain”), which he traces to Proto-Italic *kʷes-e/o-.^[3] Walde and Hofmann, Pokorny and the LIV derive it from Proto-Indo-European *kʷes- (“to hiss”), through the sense “to sigh”; de Vaan finds this possible but by no means compelling, though no other explanation has been offered.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears as a term of rhetoric: the Rhetorica ad Herennium defines it as speech that moves the hearer to pity by enlarging on misfortunes, and Cicero uses it in the same way in De inventione.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Besides the part of a speech meant to arouse pity,^[2][5] it is a complaint or lament in general:^[2][5] Cicero has it in a letter to his brother,^[5] Quintilian of a complaint against everyone and of a long lament over the civil wars, and Seneca of complaining about past pains.^[5] The TLL also cites it from Symmachus and Cassiodorus.^[6]

In medieval Latin it became a legal complaint or claim.^[7]

Timeline

• 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium defines it as a part of a speech.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in rhetoric and in his letters.^[2][5][4]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca writes of complaining about past pains.^[5][4]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian writes of a long lament over the civil wars.^[5][4]
• c. 340–402 AD – Symmachus uses it of a private complaint.^[6][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Complaining, complaint, lament.^[2][5]
2. (rhetoric) The part of a speech meant to arouse pity.^[2][5]
3. (Medieval Latin, law) A legal complaint, claim.^[7]

Related words

• conqueror
• queror
• querēla

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill