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percontor

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word percontor

Confidence
Uncertain
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɛrˈkɔn.tɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [perˈkɔn.tor][1]

Forms

percontor (present infinitive percontārī or percontārier, perfect active percontātus sum); first conjugation, deponent[1] It is also spelled percunctor and percuntor, and an active percontō is found in Naevius, Novius and Apuleius.[2][3]

Etymology

The OLD derives it from per- and contus (“pole”), a word borrowed from Ancient Greek κοντός (kontós, “pole”), with the verb ending ⟨-ō⟩.[2] The TLL reports the view of ancient and modern scholars that the one who asks was first a sailor sounding the bottom with a pole.[3] Wiktionary calls the origin uncertain and also mentions a link with cūnctor, which it finds unconvincing.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it of making inquiries and of questioning a person.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It is to make inquiries about, investigate, and to interrogate or question a person: Plautus has someone wish to ask a woman a few questions, and often uses the old infinitive percontārier.[2][4] Church Latin glosses it to inquire.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of questioning.[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To inquire into, investigate.[2][4][1][5]
  2. To interrogate, question.[2][1]

Usage notes

Döderlein contrasts rogāre, interrogāre and quaerere, simple questioning, with percontārī and scīscitārī, urgent asking;[6] percontārī asks seriously and calmly from a wish to know, scīscitārī often from curiosity or with cunning.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
Cite this entry

“Percontor.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/percontor. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·