Etymologically
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questus

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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]

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