English
conquer
Conquer comes from Old French conquerre ‘to conquer’, from Late Latin conquaerere ‘to knock, strike’, and ultimately from Latin quaerō ‘to seek, acquire’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEquaerōas quaerere‘to seek, acquire’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEconquaerere‘to knock, strike’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400conquerre‘to conquer’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500conqueren‘to conquer or subjugate (territory)’
- Englishearliest quotation 1594conquer
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEquaerōas quaerere‘to seek, acquire’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEconquaerere‘to knock, strike’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400conquerre‘to conquer’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500conqueren‘to conquer or subjugate (territory)’
- Englishearliest quotation 1594conquer
Earliest quotation: 1594, William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis: “I haue beene wooed, as I intreat thee now,…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₂- ‘to acquire’
through Proto-Italic *kʷaizō
through Latin quaerō ‘to seek, acquire’
acquisition, inquiry, quest, exquisite, requisite, enquiry, inquire, query, inquisition, inquisitor, 12 more
Today it means
verb To defeat in combat; to subjugate.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin quaerō / conquer