questus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkʷɛs.tʊs], [ˈkʷɛs.tuːs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkʷɛs.tus], [ˈkʷɛs.tus]^[1]

Forms

questus m (genitive questūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin queror (“to complain”) + -tus, an action noun.^[2][1] De Vaan reconstructs ⟨queror⟩ as Proto-Italic ⟨*kʷes-e/o-⟩ and reports the derivation from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwes- (“to hiss, sigh”), comparing Sanskrit श्वसिति (śvásiti, “hisses, snorts”), but finds it semantically not compelling.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source is Cicero, and Gaffiot cites his Prō Quīnctiō.^[4][5] Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant a complaining, complaint, plaint, outcry, as in Cicero, Catullus and Virgil's caelum questibus implet “fills the sky with laments”; a reproach, as in Lucan; and in Ovid any plaintive sound.^[2][6][5]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it is the same as querēla.^[7] Medieval Latin used it for a claim and a dispute.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.^[5][4]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it.^[2][4]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of plaintive sounds.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A complaint, lament, outcry.^[2][6]
2. A plaintive sound.^[2]
3. (Medieval Latin) A claim; a dispute.^[8]

Related words

• queror
• querimōnia
• querēla

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill