requisita

Forms

requīsīta n pl (genitive requīsītōrum); second declension, plural only^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin requīrō (“to search for; to need”): the neuter plural of its perfect participle ⟨requīsītus⟩, used as a noun.^[1][2] The verb is a compound of quaerō (“to seek”),^[3] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *kwai-s-e/o-.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest instance Georges gives is in a fragment of Sallust's Histories, in the phrase ad requisita naturae, of going away to relieve the needs of nature.^[1]

Semantic evolution

The same phrase recurs in the Historia Augusta and in Ammianus Marcellinus.^[1] Quintilian uses the word of the expressions a speaker needs, which should be at hand when required.^[1][2] German Requisite “stage properties” goes back to it,^[2] while English requisite comes from the participle ⟨requīsītus⟩.^[4]

Timeline

• 86–34 BC – Sallust has ad requisita naturae.^[1][2]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of needed expressions.^[1][2]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses ad requisita naturae.^[1][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Things required or needed; in rhetoric, the expressions a speaker needs.^[1][2]
2. requisita naturae: the needs of the body; going to relieve oneself.^[1][2]

Related words

• English requisite

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com