Etymologically
Log in

perquiro

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 13:29. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɛrˈkʷiː.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [perˈkʷiː.ro][1]

Forms

perquīrō (present infinitive perquīrere, perfect active perquīsīvī, supine perquīsītum); third conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- (“thoroughly”) + quaerō (“to seek”).[2][1][3] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of quaerō, which goes back to Proto-Italic *kwai-s-e/o-; he finds best the proposal that this is a present formed to a root meaning “to acquire”, Proto-Indo-European *kueh2-i- (“to acquire”), and calls the older comparisons uncertain.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan records it from Plautus on,[4] who has it with an indirect question: adeunt, perquirunt quid siet caussae, “they go up and ask what the reason is”.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Its senses are to search everywhere for something, to inquire widely or persistently, and to examine or study in detail.[2] Cicero writes of a letter ordering people to search out certain vessels,[2][5] and of an inquiry whether virtue is sought for its own sake;[2] Caesar uses it of finding out the ways into the land of the Suebi,[5] and Lucretius of searching in vain for signs of the gods' hidden mind.[6] The TLL finds it rather rare in Plautus, Cicero, his brother Quintus, Lucretius and Caesar, and very frequent only in Cassiodorus, who uses it more than a hundred times.[3] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to seek or examine carefully.[7] It survives in Old Spanish.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of asking a reason.[2][4][8]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it.[6][3][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of searching and of philosophical inquiry.[2][8]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of finding out routes.[5][8]
  • c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus uses it more than a hundred times.[3][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To search everywhere for.[2][5]
  2. (with an indirect question) To inquire widely or persistently.[2][6]
  3. To examine or study in detail.[2][7]

Word family

  • perquīsītor

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de