quaestor

Forms

quaestor m (genitive quaestōris); third declension^[1] Old inscriptions spell it quaistor, as in the epitaphs of the Scipios, questor is a later spelling.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin quaerō (“to seek, inquire”) + -tor, a contraction of quaesītor (“investigator”).^[1][3][2] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of quaerō, which he traces to Proto-Italic *kwai-s-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₂-i- (“to acquire”).^[4] The titles Oscan kvaísstur and Umbrian kvestur are borrowed from Latin.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[4] who uses it of the officials of a foreign city selling captives from the booty: ēmit hōsce dē praedā ambōs dē quaestōribus, “he bought both of these from the quaestors out of the spoils”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

By tradition the first quaestors investigated criminal cases under the kings and the early Republic.^[2] The name then belonged to a magistrate elected each year, chiefly for financial duties: the keepers of the treasury at Rome and the officers attached to provincial governors and generals (Cicero: quī mihi quaestor fuit, “who was my quaestor”).^[2][3] Under the Empire it was also the emperor's aide who read out his speeches in the senate, and a financial officer of a town or a society.^[2]

In medieval Latin it meant a creditor, a trustee of church property, a chancery scribe, and a collector of alms or seller of indulgences, “a pardoner”.^[5][6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: dē quaestōribus.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of his own quaestor in Sicily.^[2][7]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of the emperor's quaestor reading his speech.^[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (early Rome) An investigator of criminal cases.^[2][3]
2. A quaestor, a Roman magistrate with financial duties, at Rome or with a provincial governor.^[2][3][1]
3. The emperor's quaestor, who read his messages to the senate.^[2]
4. A financial officer of a town, a society or a foreign state.^[2]
5. (Medieval Latin) A creditor; a trustee of church property; a chancery scribe.^[5]
6. (Medieval Latin) A collector of alms, a pardoner.^[5][6]

Word family

• prōquaestor
• quaestōricius
• quaestōrius
• quaestūra

Related words

• quaerō
• quaestiō
• quaestus
• quaesītor

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de