Etymologically
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quaestorius

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kʷae̯sˈtoː.ri.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kʷesˈtɔː.ri.us][1]

Forms

quaestōrius (feminine quaestōria, neuter quaestōrium); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin quaestor + -ius.[2][3] De Vaan derives quaestor from quaerō “to seek”; the Oscan and Umbrian words for quaestor, such as Oscan kvaísstur, are loans from Latin.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,[3] who in the Verrines accuses a man of thinking two inheritances had come to him, one of them his quaestorian charge.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means of a quaestor or his office, done as quaestor: Cicero speaks of a quaestor's duty and of a crime committed as quaestor.[2][5] It is used of a clerk in a quaestor's office, and ⟨porta quaestōria⟩ in Livy is a gate of the camp.[2] Of people it means of quaestorian rank, having held the office, as in Cicero's Gaius Sicinius, and also old enough for it.[2] Quintilian speaks of the age required for the quaestorship.[5]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a quaestor's office and rank.[2][5][3]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of the quaestorian gate.[2][3]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian of the quaestorian age.[5][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of a quaestor or his office; done as quaestor.[2][5][1]
  2. Employed in a quaestor's office;[2] porta quaestōria, a gate of a camp.[2]
  3. Of quaestorian rank, having been quaestor; old enough to be quaestor.[2][5]

Word family

  • quaestōrium

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 k 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