quaero

Latin

Alternative forms

• (old desiderative?): quaesō

Etymology

Uncertain. According to Nussbaum and de Vaan, from Proto-Italic *kʷaizeō, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₂- (“to acquire”), via a se/o-present built upon an i-present form *kʷeh₂-i- (“to acquire”). In this case, cognates would include Ancient Greek πέπαμαι (pépamai, “to get, acquire”), Old Prussian quoi (“I/you want”) and quāits (“desire”), Lithuanian kviẽsti (“to invite”).

In some sources etymologized as being from Proto-Indo-European *kʷoys-, *kʷeys- (“to see”), but this was deemed uncertain by Schrijver in 1991.

LIV accepts Szemerényi's 1960 etymology that it is a derivation of *h₂eys- (“to seek, ask”), via the form *koaiseo.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈkʷae̯.roː/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkwe.ro/,

Verb

quaerō (present infinitive quaerere, perfect active quaesīvī or quaesiī, supine quaesītum); third conjugation

1. to seek, look for

   Synonyms: requīrō, studeō, spectō, petō, appetō, affectō, cupiō, concupiō, inquīrō, conquīrō, expetō, dēstinō, sitiō, aveō, voveō, circumspiciō, tendō, intendō

   Antonyms: āversor, abhorreō, dēclīnō

   Quaerendo invenietis ― By seeking ye shall find

   Quaerite Dominum ― Seek ye the Lord

2. to ask, question, seek or search for a thing, inquire, query, interrogate

   Synonyms: scīscitor, percontor, investīgō, scīscō, indāgō, interrogō, requīrō, rogitō, scrūtor

   Quaeritur num mors malum sit. ― The question is whether death is an evil.

3. to strive for; endeavor; seek to obtain

   Synonyms: lūctor, certō, ēlabōrō, cōnītor, cōnor, ēnītor, appetō, affectō, tendō, quaesō, temptō, studeō, circumspiciō, īnsequor, contendō, adnītor, labōrō, pugnō, molior, perīclitor, nītor, spectō

4. to miss, lack
5. to desire, require, want, aim at

   Synonyms: requīrō, affectō, cupiō, aveō, studeō, concupiō, indigeō, sitiō, petō, expetō, spectō, voveō, appetō, dēstinō

Conjugation

¹At least one rare poetic syncopated perfect form is attested.

Derived terms

Related terms

• quaesō

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: tser, tsireari
  • Romanian: cere, cerere
• Italo-Romance:
  • Corsican: chera, chere
  • Italian: cherere, chierere (archaic), chiedere
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: cherere, querere, chèrri
• North Italian:
  • Friulian: cirî
  • Ladin: crì
  • Old Lombard: querir
  • Old Venetian: querir
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Old Catalan: querre, querir, querer
  • Old French: querre, querir
    • Middle French: querre, quærre, querir, quærir
      • French: quérir, querre (literary)
    • Picard: queurre
    • Walloon: cweri
    • → English: quest
  • Old Occitan: querre, quere
    • Occitan: quèrre
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: querer
  • Asturian: querer
  • Extremaduran: querel
  • Leonese: querere
  • Mirandese: querer
  • Mozarabic: كارش (kāriš) (2SG; from Latin quaeris)
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: querer
    • Galician: querer
    • Portuguese: querer
  • Spanish: querer
• Vulgar Latin:
  • *acquaerere (see there for further descendants)
• Borrowings:
  • → Albanian: qeroj
  • → Middle English: quaere
    • English: query

References

• Sihler, Andrew L. (1995) New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, § 457.B
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “quaerĕre”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 2: C Q K, page 1409

Further reading

• “quaero”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “quaero”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• quæro in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, pages 1,288–9.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to court a person's favour; to ingratiate oneself with..: gratiam alicuius sibi quaerere, sequi, more strongly aucupari
    
  • to be guided by ambition: laudem, gloriam quaerere
    
  • a theme, subject proposed for discussion: id quod quaerimus (quaeritur)
    
  • at this point the question arises: hoc loco exsistit quaestio, quaeritur
    
  • the question now is..: nunc id quaeritur, agitur
    
  • the question at issue: res, de qua nunc quaerimus, quaeritur
    
  • to give the etymological explanation of words: nomina enodare or verborum origines quaerere, indagare
    
  • to earn a livelihood by something: victum aliqua re quaerere
    
  • to court popularity: gratiam populi quaerere
    
  • to strive to gain popular favour by certain means: ventum popularem quendam (in aliqua re) quaerere
    
  • to hold an inquiry into a matter: quaerere aliquid or de aliqua re
    
  • to have a person tortured: quaerere tormentis de aliquo
    
  • to examine slaves by torture: de servis quaerere (in dominum)
    
  • to put it exactly: si quaeris, si verum quaerimus
    
• “quaerō” on page 1,533 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)
• Niermeyer, Jan Frederik (1976) “quaerere”, in Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden, Boston: E. J. Brill, page 877
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 503

Anagrams

• aequor