Do you ever say a word so often that it starts to lose its meaning?
Or, sometimes, instead of losing its meaning, the word begins to show you its parts: things that are obvious if you think about them, but which you have taken for granted in the rapid flow of conversation.
Right now, I’m thinking a lot about the word "question." I’m currently in training to become a part-time test prep tutor, so we spend a lot of time talking about questions. I should have taken a tally of how often that word was said so I could tell you an exact number, but suffice to say that it was many times. So many that I started to hear the parts of the word: quest-tion. Most importantly: quest.
How had I not seen this before? As a writer, poet, scholar of Latin and Greek, and general devotee to the workings of language, how could I miss such a conspicuous connection between the words "quest’ and "question?" You ask a question because you are on a quest for the answer! A journey to seek the truth!
While I liked the romance of this interpretation of the words, I also felt the need to prove the connection. There are English words out there that appear to be related, but in fact come from different roots. And, to be perfectly honest, I’m a language nerd who’s always up for an etymology hunt.
The Online Etymology Dictionary has this to say about "question"
early 13c., "philosophical or theological problem;" early 14c. as "utterance meant to elicit an answer or discussion," also as "a difficulty, a doubt," from Anglo-French questiun, Old French question "question, difficulty, problem; legal inquest, interrogation, torture," from Latin quaestionem (nominative quaestio) "a seeking, a questioning, inquiry, examining, judicial investigation," noun of action from past participle stem of quaerere "ask, seek" (see query(v.)).
late 15c., from question (n.) and from Middle French questionner "ask questions, interrogate, torture" (13c.), from question (n.). Related: Questioned; questioning. Alternative questionize attested from 1847.
The entry for "quest" is as follows:
c. 1300, "an inquest;" early 14c., "a search for something" (especially of judicial inquiries or hounds seeking game), from Old French queste "search, quest, chase, hunt, pursuit; inquest, inquiry" (12c., Modern French quête), properly "the act of seeking," and directly from Medieval Latin questa "search, inquiry," alteration of Latin quaesitus (fem. quaesita) "sought-out, select," past participle of quaerere "seek, gain, ask" (see query (n.)). Romance sense of "adventure undertaken by a knight" (especially the search for the Grail) is attested from late 14c. Johnson's dictionary has questmonger "Starter of lawsuits or prosecutions."
mid-14c., "to seek game, hunt," from quest (n.) and from Old French quester "to search, hunt," from queste (n.). Related: Quested; questing.
Both words find their ultimate root in the Latin quaerere meaning “to ask, seek,” but seem to have evolved slightly differently over the ages. "Quest" and its Old French roots have always kept an element of seeking in their meanings, whereas ‘question’ and its respective Old French gained negative connotations like “difficulty […] legal inquest […] torture.” What can be proven here is that the words are without a doubt related, though they took slightly different paths to English.
I wondered if this connection could also be true in other languages. I tested it on Spanish because it is a Romance language and thus also has its roots in Latin. Also, this is just for fun and not scientific, so I thought it best to pick an easier language to examine.
Spanish, it turns out, does not have a connection between their word for ‘question’ and their word for ‘quest.’
La pregunta means ‘question,’ and is related to the verb preguntar, “to ask, inquire, question, query.” These terms find their root in the Latin percontor, “to probe, inquire, investigate.”
La búsqueda means ‘quest,’ and is related to the verb buscar, “to search, look for, seek.” The roots for these terms are more complicated. The exact etymology is unknown, but it could come from a Celtic family of words meaning “victory, gain.”
So, in Spanish, when you ask a question you are probing, but when you are on a quest you are seeking.
I know that in the grand scheme of things, this discovery of mine is not very important. However, it does show that there are worlds of meaning within even the smallest things. Sometimes, they’re worth examining.
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