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conquiro

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word conquiro

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
Ultimate origin
Proto-Italic (*kʷaise/o-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɔŋˈkʷiː.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [koŋˈkʷiː.ro][1]

Forms

conquīrō (present infinitive conquīrere, perfect active conquīsīvī, supine conquīsītum); third conjugation[1] Inscriptions have conquaeri and the perfect conquaeisivei.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from con- and quaerō (“to seek”).[2][4][1] De Vaan traces ⟨quaerō⟩ to Proto-Italic *kʷaise/o- and perhaps Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₂-i- (“to acquire”), following Nussbaum, though other analyses exist.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

One of its first examples in the OLD is a Republican inscription: “I searched out the runaway slaves of the Italians”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to search out and collect, as money gathered from every side in Cicero's letters, and to rake up material in speech or writing, as Cicero's Brutus.[2] It is to go out of one's way to look for something, as Varro's people seeking new shapes of furniture, and to search out facts or ideas.[2] Varro explains quaestor as one who “investigates” public money and crimes.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “seek carefully”.[6] The Vulgar Latin form ⟨*conquaerō⟩, the source of Old French conquerre, gave English conquer.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of raking up material.[2][8]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of investigating.[2][8]
  • c. 1200 – English conquer, from Old French conquerre, from the Vulgar Latin form of the verb.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To search out and collect; to collect (money); to rake up.[2][1]
  2. To seek out, hunt down; to search out (facts, ideas).[2][1][6]
  3. To investigate.[2][1]

Word family

  • conquīsītiō
  • conquīsītor
  • conquaestus
  • conquīsītus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Conquiro.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/conquiro. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·