quaesitus

Forms

quaesītus (feminine quaesīta, neuter quaesītum; comparative quaesītior, superlative quaesītissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the past participle from Latin quaerō (“to seek”).^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective it is first found in Cicero's Orator, of a prose rhythm that is not deliberately sought,^[1] and in Sallust's Histories, of a most elaborate banquet.^[1][3]

Semantic evolution

Its senses run from “sought out on purpose” to “carefully worked out”: Cicero uses it of contrived effects in style, Tacitus of studied harshness or affability, and of a death that may have been deliberate.^[1] Virgil speaks of elaborate arts that do harm, and Tacitus of the most refined punishments inflicted on those whom the people called Christians.^[1]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means select, uncommon or extraordinary.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of contrived rhythm in prose.^[1][3]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust describes a most elaborate banquet.^[1][3]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil speaks of elaborate arts that do harm.^[1][3]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of deliberate death and refined punishments.^[1][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Deliberately contrived, studied, premeditated.^[1]
2. Intentional, deliberate.^[1]
3. Carefully worked out, elaborate, recherché.^[1][2]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Select, uncommon, extraordinary.^[4]

Usage notes

A rare fourth-declension noun quaesītus, found only in the ablative, means “seeking” or “investigation”;^[2][5] Lewis & Short cite it in Pliny the Elder, where some read quae situs, and in Macrobius.^[2][5] Niermeyer treats the medieval noun under quaestus.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill