quaesitor

Forms

quaesītor m (genitive quaesītōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin quaerō (“to seek, inquire”) + -tor, from the perfect stem ⟨quaesīt-⟩;^[2][1][3] Wiktionary compares quaestor, made from the present stem.^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces the verb to Proto-Italic *kʷai-s-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₂-i- (“to acquire”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[3] who writes of those in danger of prosecution who avoided this investigator and judge.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is first a member of an extraordinary commission to investigate a case, later the president of a criminal court, and perhaps any judge in a criminal trial: the Rhetorica ad Herennium says it is his task to keep accuser, defender and witness to their parts, and Sallust has three such investigators appointed under a law.^[2][5] Virgil gives the title to Minos, judge of the dead.^[2][5] It is also a seeker or inquirer: Gellius explains the Sceptics as investigators and considerers, and Seneca calls the wise man a keen searcher for natural riches.^[2][5] In Medieval Latin it is a plaintiff.^[6] Church Latin glosses it investigator.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a criminal investigator.^[2][3]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust of three commissioners.^[2]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of Minos.^[2][5]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius of the Sceptics.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (law) An investigator, examiner; the president of a criminal court, a judge.^[2][5][1][7]
2. A seeker, inquirer, searcher.^[2][5][1]
3. (Medieval Latin) A plaintiff.^[6]

Related words

• quaerō
• quaestor
• quaestiō

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 l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ 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 f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson