conquisitor

Forms

conquīsītor m (genitive conquīsītōris); third declension^[1] The OLD also records the forms conquaestor and conquistor.^[2] L&S calls conquistor a form found in Plautus, where Lachmann read conquaestor.^[3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin conquīrō + -tor, “one who searches out”.^[2][4] The verb is a compound of quaerō “to seek”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus,^[6] where an official is to search the theatre.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

In Plautus the conquisitores search the audience,^[4][7] and another passage speaks of a man sent to track down a runaway girl.^[4] In the late Republic it became a military term for an officer who raised recruits,^[2][3] in Cicero and Livy.^[3]

In the Vulgate it renders the “disputer of this world” in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians,^[7][8][9] and a commentary of Lanfranc explains it there as a debater who argues from the rules of the arts.^[10] Medieval Latin also used it for a conqueror,^[11] as in a genealogy of the counts of Flanders, where Matilda marries William, the conqueror of England.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of men who search the theatre.^[4][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of recruiting officers.^[3][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of recruiting officers.^[3][6]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of a disputer.^[7][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who searches, an inspector.^[2][7]
2. (military) A recruiting officer.^[2][3]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A disputer, debater.^[9]
4. (Medieval Latin) A conqueror.^[11]
5. (Medieval Latin) An investigator; an acquirer.^[10]

Usage notes

In the prologue of the Amphitruo L&S takes the word for a claqueur,^[3] while Georges and Gaffiot take it for men who search the audience.^[4][7]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
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 c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e f Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften