inquisitor Latin · revision 35825

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=la quaerō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɪŋ.kʷiːˈsiː.tɔr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [iŋ.kʷiˈs̬iː.tor]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''inquīsītor''' ''m'' (genitive inquīsītōris, feminine inquīsītrix); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|inquīrō|-tor|t1=to search for, inquire into]], an agent noun formed on the participle stem ⟨inquīsīt-⟩.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) The verb is a compound of [[m|la|in-]] and [[m|la|quaerō|t=to seek]].^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It first appears in Cicero,^(Köbler 2010)^(TLL) who in the first speech against Verres uses it of the official charged with gathering evidence for a prosecution, and in the ''Academica'' of a person who searches into the nature of things.^(Georges 1913)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The TLL counts only two instances in Cicero and finds it regularly from Seneca and Pliny the Elder on; in verse it occurs only once, in Juvenal.^(TLL) Besides the investigator of a lawsuit, who collected witnesses and evidence for the accuser,^(Georges 1913)^(OLD 2012) it named a researcher into nature or truth, as in Seneca's ''Naturales quaestiones'',^(Georges 1913)^(Gaffiot 2016) a hunting dog that tracks game, in Pliny the Elder,^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) a spy or tracker sent after a suspect, in Suetonius,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) and, in Juvenal, people who search the very seaweed on the shore.^(Georges 1913)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Medieval writers kept the sense “searcher, finder”: Bede calls Pliny a most skilful investigator of nature.^(DMLBS) It also named a person who held an inquest or official inquiry,^(DMLBS) and in Ecclesiastical Latin an officer of the Inquisition.^(Stelten 1995) English took it over around 1400 for an inspector, and used it from the 1540s for the officers of the Inquisition.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a collector of evidence for a prosecution and of an inquirer into nature.^(Georges 1913)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of an investigator of natural phenomena.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a dog that tracks game.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal speaks of inspectors who search even the seaweed.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of men sent to hunt down a suspect.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1400 – Borrowed into English for an inspector or inquirer.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A person who searches out someone or something, a [[m|en|tracker]] or [[m|en|spy]]; of a dog, one that tracks game.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # An [[m|en|investigator]] or researcher (into nature, truth and the like).^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(law)'' A person who gathers witnesses and evidence for a prosecution.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # A person who searches or inspects goods.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A person who holds an [[m|en|inquest]] or official inquiry.^(DMLBS)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' An officer of the [[m|en|Inquisition]], an [[m|en|inquisitor]].^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|inquisitor]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}