sciscitor

Forms

scīscitor (present infinitive scīscitārī, perfect active scīscitātus sum); first conjugation, deponent^[1] Plautus uses an active scīscitō once.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin scīscō (“to seek to know”) + -itō.^[2][3][4] That verb is made from sciō (“to know”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *skije/o- (“to know”) and perhaps to Proto-Indo-European *skh₁-i(e/o)- (“to incise”), if knowing grew out of distinguishing.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[4] who uses an active form scīscitō in the Mercator.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to try to find something out by asking, to inquire:^[2][3] Terence has someone who wants to find out first what the matter is, and Cicero asks a friend to inquire of a man himself.^[2] Livy uses it of consulting the gods at an oracle and of learning from wounded enemies that a camp had been abandoned.^[2] From Tacitus on it also means to inquire into or examine, of inquiring into generals' orders,^[2] and Apuleius uses it of finding out a name by inquiry.^[2] Döderlein sets it with percontor against the plain rogō and interrogō: both mean pressing questions, but scīscitor often comes from curiosity, eagerness or cunning, like pumping someone for information.^[5] Stelten gives the Church Latin senses "investigate, examine, consult".^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, in an active form.^[2][4]
• 190–159 BC – Terence of finding out what is going on.^[2]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of learning from someone.^[2][3]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of consulting the gods.^[2]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of questioning orders.^[2]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius of finding out a name.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To seek to learn by asking, inquire; to question, consult (a person or god).^[2][3][1][6]
2. To inquire into, examine.^[2][7]
3. To find out by inquiry.^[2]

Related words

• scīscō
• sciō
• percontor

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 l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn